Under the Milky Way
by Kelun
Summary: Everything congealed together to make the boy in the newspapers into the boy waiting on the rooftop with windy hair and cloudy eyes. Kaito expected Conan Edogawa, but found Shinichi Kudo. / slash/mpreg/
1. You be the anchor that keeps my

Shinichi finished the case up relatively quickly, judging from the sheer amount of suspects that had relatively pathetic alibis. By two in the morning he was officially hoisting himself into his bed, a little reluctant, because he still had homework sprawled across his desk in no small amount, and he knew he had to finish it at some point before the next day. He wondered how he ever could have done this before.

His life prior to Conan Edogawa seemed foggy, as if misted and belonging to someone else entirely.

He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss being Conan sometimes. The boy had such useless, mundane problems—dealing with vapid school children, with the exception of Ai, and their non-potentially life threatening problems—and could sleep in as much as he want. He wasn't expected to solve cases, the pressure lifted entirely off of him, as well as the spotlight. Also, he and Ran spoke. Which was a major plus, because the girl had unexpectedly fallen off the face of the Earth. Or at least, that could have been the case, judging the amount of time he'd seen her (which was zero, discluding their last eventful encounter).

"_I'm really sorry, Ran." _

_Her hurt, lavender eyes turned away, to where snowflakes dusted the ground in an empyrean glow. The wan, wintry spill of the moon lighting the stark shadows down her face from long lashes. _

"_Its—" The words lodged in her throat, he could tell, as it constricted and her eyes welled up and shined. _

"_I love you," He insisted, but it hardly seemed genuine to him. "Just, not in the way you want me to."_

_Her eyes closed. Her lithe hands gripped the umbrella. "I understand." She answered softly, miserably. _

"_You're the most important girl in my life." He quirked a grin at that._

"_Thanks." Her feet shuffled soundlessly in the cold dust. "Anyway, my dad's expecting me at home…so…"_

_He nodded and shifted his weight. "I'll see you later, then."_

"_Yeah," She pivoted slowly with one foot, small boots making prints into the snow._

Apparently, she had expected him to propose.

Go figure.

He wondered where she had even gotten the idea—Sonoko, no doubt—because he had never given the thought a lingering chance in his brain. Ran was… Ran. She was funny, and sure, she was pretty, and she was an endearing sort of person and perhaps in a way his romantic interest, but they had never even really went out. They most likely would have, if he hadn't been Conan.

But there was no sense idling about what could have been.

Shinichi fell into a restless sleep by this point, hand fisted in his pillow and the length of his body a boneless heap meshed with blankets.

He didn't see the email light up on his phone.

-x-

The skies over Tei Tan High were a mulling of dark ashen clouds, a lugubrious tumult against the horizon.

Shinichi watched them with a small amount of indifference—even if it rained, or hailed, or whatever, Kaito KID's heist would lead on. Which meant that, regardless of whether Shinichi wanted to and how much his body protested against it, he was going to Sasaki building tonight, to foil the thief's plan to steal the Sasaki legendary diamond.

Today, instead of feigning ignorance and staring at the far wall, soft brown hair covering the entirety of her face, Ran broke her silence.

"Are you going to the heist?"

It wasn't surprising she knew of it. Her father _was _a detective (maybe not a good one) and it wasn't like KID was surreptitious about his heist warnings, or anything.

He blinked and shifted his hand away from his cheek, eyes drawn to the dark blue of her skirt, before trailing up to her impassive face.

"Yeah, I guess so." He tried to quell the rise of heat beneath his lashes.

Her lips turned down slightly. "But… you look like you're going to fall over."

"Who, me?" He pointed to himself, looking around as if she could possibly be talking to anyone else in the deserted classroom, as their fellow students had already left to the next class. The action itself made him reel in the vertigo of dizziness. "I'm fine!"

"Really." She deadpanned flatly.

He smiled. "Yeah!" He got up then, deciding that, in all honesty, he'd rather not talk to Ran at all if she was going to harp on him. "I'll see you there, then?"

She nodded slowly, that blank look shattering into a look of concern.

He walked out of the classroom with a strut and a wave, before immediately regretting the strenuous movement when his head spun. He gripped the wall for support against the dizzying sensation, as if the floor had dropped from beneath him and his head was pulled in the entire opposite direction. This was bad. He was getting sick. Shinichi smoothed the cool back of his hand under his bangs, feeling the lack of heat. No fever. No congestion, either. He obviously didn't have a virus.

His heart lurched in his chest as he made his way to the bathroom, intent on dunking his head into the rush of cold water.

He wondered if the dizziness had anything to do with the fact he hardly kept down any food these days.

Every morning found him leaning on cool porcelain, choking out whatever he had managed to wolf down last night. Luckily, lunch wasn't included in this sick cycle, which was probably the only reason why he wasn't dying in a hospital bed somewhere. Even now, his stomach churned at the very thought of food. But he knew he'd have to eat it—he wasn't stupid, for god's sake, if he ditched lunch he'd essentially kill himself.

It had been like this for a month or so now, and he'd been Shinichi Kudo only for two.

His first immediate, and most terrifying thought was that the antidote wasn't working. Maybe APTX was resurging—maybe it had never even left his system. Shinichi clearly remembered the week struggling to adjust to his new (old, technically) body, new muscles, new legs.

He thought wildly that he should tell Haibara, but immediately thought against it.

Shinichi could clearly remember their last conversation over the phone.

"_T—There's blood!" _His voice stricken with fear.

Ai, not particularly concerned. _"Oh, where?"_

"_In—In the toilet."_

"_And how did it get there?"_

"_Cause… I took a piss in it."_

A beat of silence. _"Why are you so scared?"_

"_Am I dying?"_

"_No. You're peeing blood. There's a difference." _Intense banging from the other room and a squark of surprise. _"I'm busy right now. Don't call me unless it's serious."_

Of course, Shinichi hadn't known at that very moment Ai had been carrying three times her weight in pans and was balancing herself on an end table, two chairs, and a particularly thick Mark Twain novel, reaching into the cupboard with one hand and steadying herself with her foot on the far wall, a boiling pot of water beneath her large enough to cook her.

But he had taken her words to heart, and as his stomach flipped again, he instead walked as straight as he could to the lunchroom, sat down, and proceeded to mechanically digest his food.

Sonoko watched him curiously. "Good lunch, huh?" Her brows creased. "Didn't know you liked tuna…"

"Its pretty good."

"Okay…"

The rest of the day found his head on the desk, dozing off and trying to catch whatever rest he could before the big heist. They usually lasted well into the early morning, and he was aware that afterwards he'd have to start his homework, try for a couple hours of sleep, and get up the next morning frighteningly early for school.

Kaito KID…

Shinichi shook his head. He didn't have the time to think about the enigmatic thief. He needed sleep first.

-x-

At that same moment, Kuroba Kaito was yawning uncontrollably, kicking his feet onto his desk and leaning back, hands behind his head.

He had recently turned the teachers' hair a rioting shade of green, but he had yet to notice. Neither of the kids were saying anything either, probably too aware of his tricks by now, and he was beginning to wonder when the teacher would spy his reflection in the windows, or perhaps brush his hands in his hair.

He didn't do either.

Aoko wasn't impressed. "Do you ever pay attention?"

"Course." He answered with a cocky grin.

Truthfully, no. He never bothered with school. Too easy, maybe. Maybe he just didn't care enough to try. At any rate, his eyes bypassed Aoko's stubborn visage to where clouds gathered tempestuously on the horizon.

Weather was inconsequential.

The heist would go on.

It had to.

The full moon would rise, and the gem would be tested.

Even though Black Organization had formally disbanded, members either killed, imprisoned, or hidden, the Pandora Jewel remained elusive, beyond his grasp, inches away from his reaching fingers. He new that with every waning moon, he was one step closer. Perhaps not as large a step as he'd like, but it was one less gem. He'd been in Japan for quite a while now, being an internationally acclaimed thief usually meant spontaneous hopping of countries.

Kaito would be lying his vindictive ass off if he said that the reason had nothing to do with Shinichi Kudo.

First, it had been Conan Edogawa. The surprisingly enigmatic six-year old surpassed him when he was sure that he had reached perfection. He was foiled, repeatedly, and if not stopped entirely, then at least met with opposition. Although the boy had taken more into the lines of a watchful critique as time passed—making no effort to stop him, simply waiting and commenting. He'd think he was five steps ahead of the police, leaping on rooftops and blending into the scenery, breath uneven as he skidded to a halt at his final destination to watch his traps spring, when the boy's childish but hidden voice would reach him.

There were undertones to the young detective. Ocean met sky, blue to blue (infinity to infinity) and Conan would take great pleasure divesting his entire plot to its bear minimum, taunting as he saw fit.

Kaito was think skinned, and the masked thief took his "kind suggestions" with a listening ear and a thoughtful nod, before, typically, ending the night with a finale which almost always surprised the young boy.

Kaito mused that perhaps their relationship was based entirely off of silence.

The boy would wander up the stairs to his hiding spot, watching but rigid, sirens blaring in the distance, spotlights flickering above them like dying stars and revolting against the dim, full, moon.

Conan and his watchful blue eyes became Kaito KID's sole companion.

But then he was lost.

Heists rolled around.

The Phantom Thief kept a keen eye out for the mussed hair and short stature.

But the night was cold and soundless, lingering voices in the distance.

Eventually, he gave up on his young Tantei-kun, and his venues turned overseas. While boarding a plane every full moon was not only time consuming but also suspicious, there were more hidden jewels then Japan could offer. His father had exhausted most of them, true, but he had overlooked a handful or so.

His searching had once again steered him to the small island country, however, with tales of the elusive Mahou Gem, a jewel which was said to change color under the full moon.

Kaito KID sent out his invitations, not for the Black Organization, but in slight hope that one day, Tantei-kun would see it, and he would come.

He didn't.

But Shinichi Kudo did.

"Kaito," Aoko drawled in a playful voice, head careened so that her eyes could meet his perfectly, hands behind her back. "School is over! What on Earth are you thinking about so deeply?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Nothing much. I guess I was just day dreaming."

"Hmm." She frowned thoughtfully, before brightening. "So, want to study after school? There's a new smoothie place that opened down from where Tou-chan works, a lot of kids go to hang out around there." She paused, when she noticed his withdrawn face. "They have good ice cream!"

The thought of ice cream was tempting, however, he had a heist to plan for, which was far more important.

"Can't." Kaito shook his head, immediately fishing for an excuse. "Saguru-kun and I are… studying."

"Together?" Her brows creased. Their animosity was infamous.

Kaito nodded sheepishly. "Yeah… he's the best mathematician in the school, so I figured he could rub off on me some…"

"Well, okay." She canted her hip slightly, hands behind her back, chin tilted in skepticism. "Don't kill yourselves."

"We won't!" He cheered to her retreating back, before immediately whipping out his phone to contact the foreign detective. The last thing he needed was for Hakuba to crush his alibi.

"Yo, detective-chan!" He greeted happily, his only response undecipherable mumbling.

"What do you want?" The blonde eventually answered.

He grinned cheekily, making his way out of the school. "We're studying tonight, okay?"

"We are?" The detective echoed forlornly.

"No. But if Aoko asks, we are."

"And why should I lie for you, again?"

"Cause," He drawled. "I got stuff to do. And you owe me anyways."

"But I—

"Thanks! Love you!" He called aloud, and several students turned their heads at the uproar. Hakuba squawked in surprise, and Kaito could hear his choked out words before he shut the phone.

Sure, he and Hakuba didn't get along, but they had a certain understanding that stemmed from the fact Saguru was aware he was Kaito KID. Of course, Kaito never confirmed his suspicions, but allowed him to believe so anyway. Saguru, for all his talk, wouldn't tell anyone, not when one of his close friends turned out to be the man he was looking for.

-x-

Shinichi wanted to die.

Not literally, but at least long enough to cast away his fate.

Ran, for some unintelligible reason that his highly powered sleep deprived brain couldn't fathom, had come to some sort of conclusion about him.

She was dragging him out with Sonoko for dessert at some new café called pinkberry—an outrageously girly salon of cupcakes and desirably cute edible delights. His severe headache had worsened, and his stomach seemed to pump acid into his throat at the very thought of anything on the menu.

"I'm not hungry, honest." He protested weakly to Ran, who waved him off entirely.

"Get him a mango smoothie or something, Sonoko-chan." She said instead of listening to his pleads, ushering him to one of the luxurious plush pink sofas.

The tables were checkered pink and green with pictures of various fruits. There's happened to be an orange slice. He glowered at it considerably, cursing his life and anything else he could think of.

"Shinichi—?" Ran blinked curiously at him. "Have you been listening?"

"Huh? Yeah." He nodded absently. "That test in Sociology."

He was a god damn detective. As if he needed that class.

Sonoko came to them eventually, bringing along a girl with messy hair who reminded him remarkably of Ran. Ran seemed to notice it too, as she stared dazedly at her near look alike with surprise. Sonoko introduced her as Aoko, a friend of hers from Edoka High. The girl was charming, a bit boyish, but Shinichi found her rather entertaining and altogether helpful, as she chided the two girls for bugging him so much, and turned their attentions toward her.

Not that the detective cared remotely for mundane things like girl-smoothie-dates. It didn't escape him that he was the only boy in this escapade (he usually was though, so the thought wasn't too bothersome) and he desperately wanted to get back to his house and catch an hour or two of sleep before the heist.

The broadcasted premeditated crime was a once a month—and, sometimes more (Shinichi was pretty sure he knew the reason why)—event which, with the immediate thought of, made Shinichi blush considerably.

He stood at the thought, deciding that his sleep was more important then humoring Ran.

"Shinichi-kun?" The girl began worriedly when he stood abruptly, effectively halting their conversation.

"I completely forgot I told my mother I'd do some errands for the house today!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave now."

Ran looked vaguely disappointed, but she hid it with a smile. "S'okay. Have fun?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Unlikely."

He ended up getting zero sleep, but a lot of headache.

The Junior Detective squad had found him. They'd been using him as a pseudo replacement for Conan for some time now (he wondered if it had anything to do with a subconscious connection they made between he and his younger counterpart) and managed to tail him from the café halfway to his house before he realized they were there. They weren't very sneaky, and he clutched a hand to his head in surprise when it dawned on him just how out of it he was.

Sleep alluded him, however, as he spent the majority of his leftover hours trying to shake off the irritating kids. Usually he found them entertaining, but at the moment, he was too tired to care.

In the end, he got no sleep, and ended up dozing on the rooftop where he knew KID would stop at.

And as usual, Shinichi was right, the thief dropped from the sky to land gracefully and soundlessly onto the building top, Pulling out the gem from one of his hidden pockets to examine it against the full moon. He didn't even notice the detective stirring awake near the door, washed in shadows. He was too busy watching the glinting reflection carefully.

The Maiden's Crown did change color in the light.

Just not the one he wanted.

The clear surface was usually so translucent it was like looking through a window, even though the gem was almost four fingers in diameter. However, in the full moon it turned an opaque milky sheen, glittering like an opal.

He held it there for some moments, between his thumb and forefinger, staring sightlessly into the open sky.

"You're disappointed."

Kaito turned slowly, not in any hurry, as he was already well aware of the owner to the soft voice.

Kudo Shinichi leaned against the wall—hands in his pockets and looking for all the world like he could care less about the thief occupying the same roof as him. Kaito took the opportunity to give him the once over; Shinichi had this really fortunate talent of always looking like he'd just gotten out of bed after a night of raunchy sex. It made Kaito want to be the one that made him look like that in the first place. He smiled with anticipation at that—his wish might not be all that far off. He may have let his libido get ahead of him though, because when he looked at Shinichi, _truly _looked, there was something not quite right with his usual unintentional sex-kitten look.

He… looked like he probably should have skipped the raunchy sex and stayed in bed. Possibly forever.

Kaito was immediately worried—it was kind of cold in this season, the biting wind lapping at the detective's tousled hair.

What worried him the most though, was the dazed and tired eyes; the glassy, unfocused look where normally Kaito expected a sharp, keen gaze, burning blue and looking into all he had to hide . His expression was drawn out and weary, but a perfect mask slid over his face when he noticed the thief's attention on him.

He pulled the gem down from where he had held it between his fingers, examining the pearl-white sheen that glimmered in the full moon one last time before he tucked it into his pocket.

Kaito shrugged. "Not really. It just means that there's one less jewel I'll have to steal."

"What's the point in stealing them?" And, with an intense, burning gaze, the detective hazarded, "What are you after?"

The thief tipped his hat forward, a smirk on his lips. "Immortality."

Shinichi scoffed.

Bullshit.

But Kaito only tilted his head. He was warping the truth, in a way. He was after immortality, not for himself, not for anyone, he was after the elusive truth—to destroy it. He was hardly going to tell the detective of his search of the Pandora Jewel, however.

It was strange, the secrets they kept from each other.

Such impertinent information, a colossal truth. Their real identities, their lives away from hidden rooftops and seeping moonlight. Their goals. None of that seemed to matter up here—in their own diminutive little universe, far removed from life as they knew it.

Kaito treaded the distance between he and the detective.

Even in the dim light, he could see the flickering expressions—hesitation?—in the boy's face. He tilted the chin up, so he could get a better look at the wide eyes. Shinichi's mouth was set in a firm line, unwavering. His shoulders were stiff, however. From what? Fear?

No.

They had played this game for far too long for the detective to be wary.

He took his time prying open soft lips, pinning the shorter boy to the wall, elbow resting on the stone, the other feeling the ridges of his ribcage. So thin… had he been eating? _What concern of it was his, if he wasn't?_ Kaito pointed out to himself. The detective closed his eyes, wrapping arms around the thief's neck, white fabric soft under his tracing fingertips.

"Here?" He asked breathlessly as they pulled away, resting the back of his head against the wall so his blurry vision could set upon the shadowed face.

Funny, how long had this been going on?

And never once, had Shinichi seen the other boy's face?

KID chuckled darkly where he mouthed heated kisses along the column of his neck. "Do you have any where else in mind?"

"No." Shinichi grumped, casting a dubious look at the floor of the rooftop. Well, he supposed, they'd certainly done it on _worse. _

.

It had stared when he was still Conan. The thief had become something of an amicable menace; someone which the child detective found an increasing amusement and interest.

Perhaps it was that smirk of his, tilted behind his hat, or the lean torso which moved effortlessly in cloaked darkness that attracted his eye. Maybe it was the sharp mind that attracted the detective to him, his plans, his enigmatic mysteries which the detective wanted to solve. The ambiguous truth to the cloaked man, the cryptic answer perplexing the boy, an mystery he didn't want to solve. Realistically, it was a combination of both.

It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

He had no intentions of fully divulging the obscure man—boy, he was fairly sure, from the lean build and youthful voice—of his secrets, in fact, he found the fact he knew almost nothing of the secretive thief sort of… arousing, in a way.

Of course, as Conan, there was nothing he could do but build a solid relationship built on bemusement and banter.

The boy had found a sort of companion in the thief; a relationship which couldn't fully bloom in the body he was currently in. KID had a way of always being affectionate, ruffling the boy's hair, a soft, misplaced smile when he thought the detective wasn't looking. Shinichi figured that the mastermind felt it too, but simply had no intentions of acting on it.

When Ai made the cure, an untested beta which proved astounding results, Shinichi took his first chance and Conan became the high school detective once again.

.

Kaito pulled the collar away from the stretched tendons of the detective's neck, nipping and marking as he saw fit, and altogether ignoring Shinichi's hilarious expression.

He had quite a few ways to wipe that look off his face in his arsenal, and he wasn't above using it.

He didn't stop, relentlessly marking the younger boy with his tongue, hands pulling the flimsy shirt up until the smooth midriff was exposed to the cold air. The detective moved against the steady body that had him pressed full against the cold wall, gripping the suit as a knee wedged between his legs.

Shinichi closed his eyes, allowing himself to get lost in the thief's capable hands. He startled back into reality though, when he heard the distant sounds of voices.

"Hey," He whispered. KID didn't make any indication that he had heard him, taking his time to suck what was going to be an outrageous hickey at the base of his collarbone. "_KID_."

"Mmm?"

"Do you hear that?" He listened closer; the slight pitter-patter of footsteps in the distance were quite but clearly audible. Were they getting closer? It was possible. Or they could just be following the merry goose chase KID had left for them.

He was, truthfully, starting to get concerned when the thief didn't stop, eyes darting to the smudges of buildings, bright lights like splotches of watercolor. He could hear the police… somewhere… but they seemed far off. He supposed that KID knew what he was doing, and wouldn't unnecessarily endanger both of them to the police, or, god forbid, the media.

The younger boy's breath hitched in his throat as hands found the bared skin of his stomach, warm fingers against the cold skin—"_Nnn_…Kaito—don't…"—_damn_, was his stomach always so sensitive? He pushed a bit against the stronger arms, wriggling on the wall, but to no avail.

His stomach was cold, but the searing heat from the thief's fingertips made him arch his back and exhale audibly.

"Hmmm?" The thief murmured against the skin of his neck, kissing trails from the taught lines of his neck to the mobile shoulder, stretching out the collar of his t-shirt with his unyielding kisses.

"Are you sure you want me to stop?"

Shinichi bit back a retort to the rhetorical question, and it hardly mattered anyway, because a moment later two full hands pressed against his stomach and his brain melted slowly.

Eventually, with a vindictive smirk, Kaito noticed the flush of incarnadine beneath lowered lashes, those blue eyes lidded and that perfect mouth opened for short gasps of breath to crystallize in the cold air. "Well?" He deliberately paused, whispering into the detective's ear. "Is that a yes or no?"

"W—What?" Meanwhile, Shinichi had completely forgotten about whatever reservations he'd had in the face of all that pleasure. It was sort of obnoxious, how KID always managed to barrel through his apprehension and make the whole affair into something so pleasurable Shinichi forgot what he was worried about.

Shinichi was about to pull away (he wasn't quite sure, where, exactly, he'd pull away to, but it was his intention nonetheless) when KID rubbed his thumbs against the skin of his taut stomach, and he immediately responded, much to his chagrin.

It tore a breathless gasp out of him, and once again derailed all his thoughts. Jesus, the thief wasn't even touching him, and he was already this hard and so incredibly turned on. His stomach had never been particularly sensitive—not like his ears, or his neck, or the inside of his thighs (or a lot places, really)—and from the victorious laugh he'd gotten out of the thief, he had a sinking suspicion that KID was going to exploit this new weakness.

The thief grinned at him, and Shinichi reacted with tumbled out words to stop him, but the criminal had already dropped to suck at his stomach, and his words ended up being unintelligible mewling.

Kaito was enjoying himself, ruthlessly licking at the sensitive skin as Shinichi tried in vain to wrestle free from his uncompromising grip.

"I haven't even touched you yet." He noted, looking up at him with a sparkle in his eyes. He thumbed the button of Shinichi's jeans. "But you're responding so lovely for me…"

"Shut up." He scowled, going for commanding and missing by a mile, flushed in the face and completely out of breath. He never reacted to anyone like this—no one _got _to him the way the thief did, and that was half the reason he let the thief do this to him in the first place. It was always too much and not enough all at once; it always made him come back for more.

Kaito paused, something in the detective's tone halting him. He turned his gaze back up to Shinichi, scrutinizing him closely. Sure, he was clearly aroused and clearly into it, but he seemed… off. His game wasn't where it usually was—he wasn't bitchily commanding Kaito to get on with it, and hurry the fuck up and make it good—

"You're sick." A statement, not a question.

Shinichi stiffened.

"No—it's just—

"What's the point in lying to me, meitantei-kun?" He sighed insufferably, getting back to his feet, and, swiftly, before the detective could bat him away, he laid a hand on his forehead. Burning up.

When the detective said nothing, only biting his lip and looking away, the thief pulled him back a bit to study the dulled eyes that struggled to focus on anything. He frowned. Definitely sick. Why'd the detective come out to meet him, when he obviously should be resting? Maybe he thought it justice. Maybe he wanted to catch him. Or maybe, and Kaito felt a pleasant tinge at the thought, maybe the detective had wanted to see him—wanted this.

And Kaito wanted it too.

But more importantly, he wanted the detective healthy.

"Come on." The thief held out his hand, and watched the inner turmoil reflected in his eyes as Shinichi debated taking his hand.

Footsteps were clear from the open door to the skyscraper's roof, and at this point Shinichi hardly had a choice (even if he did, he'd have chosen the same) and he grasped the outstretched hand, only to be pulled flush against the thief and covered in his cape.

"Kaito KID!" Yelled one of the officers. "Hands in the air! You're under arrest!"

As usual, the international thief only waved them off, disappearing into smoke.

Shinichi hardly felt them moving, but he smiled slightly when he realized that they had successfully landed onto the balcony of a hotel five buildings down from the one he had met the thief at, which was ten blocks away from the scene of the crime. It was far away to overlook, close enough to be of use.

He opened his eyes, a bit dazed, he admitted privately to himself, to find the hotel room's lights were off, and the room pitched in darkness.

Kaito seemed to have no problem maneuvering around objects, hand holding his as he directed him through the obstacles.

They found what they were looking for, and the two toppled into the shallow ocean of silk.

Shinichi had fully expected the waistline of his jeans to be pulled down unabatedly, an implacable mouth against his, and nimble fingers exploring and worshipping every inch of his body; he'd expected to be sprawled out luxuriously on the sheets—which were a welcomed change from the cold grain of building tops—and mouth open and breathing ragged. KID incessant and unforgiving, pressing fingers to his waiting mouth as he pulled his own pants down, and pushing Shinichi's shirt over his head, hands tied above him in the sleeves, spread lush and embarrassingly for the thief's wandering eyes. KID definitely had a thing for tying him up. Maybe one of these days he'd actually get around to bringing a pair of handcuffs.

The hat would be discarded somewhere, along with the jacket and whatever else the magician kept hidden. The darkness would hide his face, but not his euphonious voice, whispering darkly in his ear all the naughty things which arched Shinichi's spine and made him writhe in flushed humiliation as wet fingers pressed into him and the thief took his time to admire the pink cheeks and expanse of skin exposed for him, before eventually taking what he wanted.

However, the only thing he could remember were the unrelenting soft kisses and soothing hands that ran down his side, the thief murmuring things he couldn't understand and the sleepy mumbles of his own.

"I think I'm scared." He'd confessed into the almost silence, the only true noise the rustling of sheets. The announcement surprised even him.

"Of what?" Came the whispered rebuke, hot breath on his nose.

"I don't… " I don't want to die. I don't want to change back. I don't want to leave._ I don't want this to end. (I don't want you to leave me) _"Mmmm…." It all came out as, while he drifted further away from the boy beside him, who's eyes were lit with concern and mouth pressed into a thin line, rubbing the detective encouragingly into sleep.

Kaito smiled involuntarily at the sight.

Shinichi was just too cute.

Kaito watched the boy curl up into the swathed sheets, the comforter larger than he was, hair a mess and blue eyes closed in dreamless sleep.

Of course, what Kaito _really _wanted to do at this point was a little different than rubbing the boy's hair soothingly, mumbling incoherent words to softly lull him to sleep. But he resisted himself. The detective—_his _detective was sick. No matter if he tried to hide it, the answer was as plain as day.

This worried him.

He must have been suffering pretty badly for the tired look in his eyes to reach Kaito's attention. The boy was terribly good at keeping himself blocked off, even when Kaito had him opened up beneath him.

The moonlight flickered above them, milky way swirling like sprinkled dust in the sky. The room was blanketed in darkness, but Kaito could see clearly. The mastermind stopped his mindless petting and pulled himself off of the bed, Shinichi making small noises at the loss, making the thief chuckle. So fucking cute.

Shinichi was _always _cute, even when he vehemently denied it.

Typically it was the kind of cute which made Kaito bend him over whatever debatably sanitary surface he could find, and make that little mouth panting for more.

Now, it was just a soft, almost affectionate look he held for the detective—

Which scared him.

He wasn't supposed to get attached to him.

-x-

Shinichi Kudo woke up, sleepily rubbing his eyes, one hand tangled in the sleeves that were a tad too big for him. He pushed himself higher on the towering pillows, bathed in soft white comforters, rubbing his eye as the material of his shirt slid down his thin arm to bunch at his shoulders. Maybe his friends were on to something; he really hadn't thought he'd gotten so skinny. Probably at some point between when he was stuck as a child and when he started throwing up everything he tried to eat. Yeah, no the healthiest of lifestyles.

Sunlight was pouring in from the window to the left of the bed, where the curtains were drawn open to reveal the balcony backdropped by a stunning sunrise.

He bolted upright when he realized where he was.

A grand room, with majestic looking works of artistic metal and creamy white walls, wearing a button down he surely didn't arrive in.

The headache was gone, as was the faded dizziness.

His first reaction was to lift the covers up furiously, the material tangled in his hands to reveal his jeans pulled mid-thigh, but his plaid boxers still resting on his hips. He slumped back onto the pillows. They _hadn't done anything_.

Which was a relief as it was mildly concerning Relief, because now he wasn't sore the next morning and struggling to sit down in the aftermath of a ruthless cock plowing into him. Concerning, because these rendezvous balanced his teenage libido coupled with the fact that his hormones were pretty much rocketing everywhere, and KID always seemed up to the task of relieving him, and that he _didn't _was… strange. Unusual.

A check to the alarm clock on the bedside table revealed the time to be the late afternoon. He'd missed school. But the rest had certainly cured him of whatever ailed him…

…or so he thought.

His stomach churned angrily, and he immediately dropped out of the mess of sheets to dry heave into the toilet (he hadn't ate anything since lunch, so predictably, there was nothing in his stomach to throw up) His stomach stopped rioting against him in the long run, and he stood up to see his reflection in the mirror. Even though he spent the last twenty minutes kneeling over his new best friend made of porcelain, he looked relatively refreshed, and the brightness of his eyes were glowing back at him in the mirror. The bathroom was a perfection of marble, white ceramic and flowery soap, and he took the ample opportunity to clean himself up from all the dirt from last night.

Shinichi blinked slowly, surprise on his face.

They mostly went horizontal on whatever surface they could—and, while in the middle of a heist, that was usually

a) the rooftop, which, while presenting a ceiling of fading stars and the benign presence of the moon, rubbed his back raw with their movements and in this season was frighteningly cold

b) various rooms in KID's escape building, mostly offices, that gave the two a chance to try out the more acrobatic positions and, if they were in a hurry, he would simply be bent over the desk. While warm with a nice view of the city, waking up and explaining himself to surprised office workers usually took a lot of effort.

c ) wherever they felt like. And with KID, that was almost always the very room in which he had stolen his priceless artifact. While kind of kinky, being fucked into the wall took a lot of stamina and they usually ended up defiling some priceless art.

Needless to say, this was a welcomed change.

The suite was composed of a king sized bed, an inviting sea of warm blankets, windows which stretched across the whole far wall, floor to ceiling, revealing the balcony which KID must have landed onto last nigh, a nice flat screen, and a modern looking glass table made of twisting steel.

He walked over to the table when a glimmering light caught his eye.

It was the Maiden's Crown.

_I didn't want to wake you, you look too cute sleeping._

He flushed at that.

_You really shouldn't overwork yourself so much, Meitantei-kun. While the things you want me to do to you in your dreams are kind of kinky, I'd rather do them in real life, you know? You're very vocal in your sleep!_

(At the bottom, he inserted a one-eyed smiley face, the other eye a circle which seemed to represented the monocle, instead of the typical heart and comical interpretation of himself)

Shinichi slammed the paper down and turned red. He wondered if he actually talked in his sleep or KID was just messing with his head. He supposed he'd never really know (nor did he want to)

-x-

Kaito yawned in his fourth period class, sandwiched between Saguru and Aoko, looking and feeling the strains of last night.

A successful heist. The jewel had been taken, tested, and put back.

The detective had come, but Kaito found him weary and near asleep on his feet, and figured that he should at least give the detective some much needed rest—no one else seemed to want to do so.

Even if it cut into their already short time together under the moonlight, there was something stirring in the young thief at the very thought of Shinichi ill. If he could, he'd whisk the boy away to some hidden retreat until the tired edges of his eyes faded back into the sharp gaze that he remembered on the first day he met him.

"_You figured out my message then, Tantei-kun?" He drawled playfully, hands leaning on the railing, eyes set on the bright lights and sirens coming from three blocks away._

_A figure stepped out of the shadows. He expected a short boy with a bowtie and glasses—the face he'd come to, dare he say, love?—and that sly smirk that meant the little minx had figured out his entire plan already. _

_Instead, a boy his age walked out of the shadows, hands in his pockets, mouth in that cynical smile, eyes glowing in the night like the jewel in his pocket—breathtaking. He turned around immediately to get a better look. _

_Familiar, somehow…_

"_And so this is where you'll escape from…" The detective's eyes lit up with challenge, walking closer. _

_They were around the same height. He had a couple inches on the smaller boy. There was an elegance that immediately drew him to the detective, a grace and a mind which reminded him of another detective, much smaller in stature._

"_I don't think we've met before… "He trailed off pointedly, politely. _

_The other boy tilted his head. "Kudo, Shinichi."_

_He took a limp hand from its place in one of the jean pockets, to graze it against his lips. He chanced a quick glance to the boy's face, where he spied the flush of color just beneath long lashes, blossoming eagerly like poinsettia. Shinichi hadn't realized how much the chaste, brushing lips would effect him._

_But the kiss was virgin, with no foul play. "Kaito KID." He murmured against the silky hand, letting it drop to gaze amusedly at the detective's embarrassed face._

_He was almost giddy with the knowledge he'd already found the great detective's weakness._

_Of course he'd heard of Beika's renowned teenage detective Shinichi Kudo. The boy was almost a legend around these parts, reaching international acclaim for his sharp wit and calm, collected visage. Kaito was sure that, if he hadn't just found the detective's weakness, he'd have been faced with that same cool façade as every other criminal._

_(What the international thief didn't know, however, was that Shinichi was well aware of his weakness as well)_

_((and had wanted him to find it))_

He scheduled a next heist the following week. Even though it wouldn't be the full moon, he wanted to lure the detective out once more. He sent out the wild invitations, this time for the detective, not for the Organization.

And when they met again under the stars, he had thought he'd be the one to make the first move.

But instead, the usually composed detective dawned an almost coy look, a shy smile on his face as leaned upwards so his lips could touch his.

And well, it only got better from there.

Aoko noticed the dreamy, lovesick look on Kaito's face with confusion. "Kaito-kun?" She called allowed, waving a hand to his face. "What are you thinking about?"

"Err—!" The young magician's face flushed, and a quirky smile lit up Aoko's face.

"He's thinking of his love." Akako answered from the row in front of them, the witch's plum colored hair reaching Kaito's desk as she leaned back to pivot her chair on two legs.

"What?!" Kaito near stood up at the accusation. "Of course not!"

Akako only smirked at him over her shoulder—goddamn her psychic abilities—while Aoko watched him curiously.

"Kaito-kun…." She murmured, blinking.

Kaito didn't want to know what was going through her head.

Her look suddenly turned scathing, however. "You didn't go to pinkberry with me yesterday because you said you were studying!" She yelled at him, while pointing to Saguru. "But Hakuba-kun was having dinner with Akako-chan!"

Kaito paled, and immediately looked to Hakuba, who wore a sheepish smile. "Traitor." He hissed under his breath, before turning to Aoko with his hands raised in universal surrender.

"Err—its not what you think!"

"He was watching the Kaito KID heist." Akako confirmed with a wink. "Right, Kaito-kun?"

The magician nodded immediately. "Right! Sorry, Aoko-chan…" He put on his best face. "But I really want to catch this guy. He's so cool, but no one's a better magician then me!"

Aoko harrumphed, but she seemed to understand. "I still don't really understand why you're so bent on catching him." She sighed. "My father and the police are already working on it. They'll catch him soon!"

Kaito wanted to point out that they sure were doing a good job of it, but didn't.

-x-


	2. feet on the ground,

_Many a warning for mature sexual content. Like, for real tho._

-x-

It was cold.

No. It was fucking freezing.

Kudo Shinichi pulled the furred hood of his jacket over his ears, to keep them from numbing to the point he couldn't hear anything.

It had been a couple weeks since he had last seen KID. No surprise there. Yet somehow, the days seemed so much longer without heists interspersing them, and he found himself side glancing to his phone, as if expecting it to ring with a new Kaito KID update.

It hadn't, though.

Well…

Until today. Shinichi could have cursed his luck. A heist, tonight. Too bad he already was already booked solid.

Instead of gallivanting around the rooftops with his unidentified lover, he was instead staring down at a woman with her head limp, body battered and blood splattering the walls and shattered glass everywhere. The police were called, and so was Shinichi. Her mother was wailing, her boyfriend shocked and speechless, her little sister crying and fluttery. Three suspects. He already knew which was the killer.

That didn't stop him from being pulled into the questioning, and the forensics, and pretty much everyone seemed to be doing their best to keep him here longer then he needed to be.

"The killer is…"

Megure-keibu was restless behind him, the three suspects in the room wide-eyed at the youthful detective.

"You." The boyfriend drew in a startled shock, immediately launching in his defense.

"W—what?! But I wasn't even here! I—how could I have gotten in? You said it yourself, all the windows and doors were locked! And Megumi-chan's balcony was opened from the _inside_! How could I have done that?"

"Easy." Shinichi scoffed. His eyes kept darting to where the police lights were already patrolling for Kaito KID. "You went in through Kaho's."

The teenage sister of the murder victim made an audible squeak, hands coming to cover her mouth.

Too simple. His brain was dying from lack of interest. "Kaho opened her balcony for you, am I right? The front door to the apartment complex adjacent to this one is always open, you went up to the roof, crossed over, where you tied the rope to the rail and slowly drew yourself to her door. At this point, Kaho had already given Megumi the tranquilizer. Since there was already so much alcohol in her system it looked like she had accidentally stumbled into the glass."

Honestly, who were they trying to fool?

The boyfriend and the crying sister were handcuffed and lead outside, Shinichi following them into the hallway but turned to the staircase which lead to the roof. Anything to get away from the incessant dry heaves and wails. They were worse than usual. Or maybe, _he _was worse than usual. Shinichi frowned. Was he? He was always rather mercurial with his moods, so it was difficult to say.

He looked to the sky, where lights flickered off of helicopters in wide swoops, examining building tops.

The wind bit and stung at his cheeks, and he huddled closer into the jacket. The fur hood lined his chin and neck, and he wished he had worn gloves to keep away the cold. There was no use going over to see the result of the Kaito KID heist. He'd missed most of it already. The detective sighed, wishing he hadn't been caught up in some droll case—it couldn't really even be called a case, there wasn't any mystery to it.

The gelid night frosted around him, but his hands gripped the cold railing and his eyes trained themselves to the spotlights twisting into the sky, wondering which was focused in on KID. This far away, the action was lessened considerably to the dull wail of sirens in the foggy distance, and the low drone of helicopters above. If he listened hard enough, he thought he could hear Nakamori-keibu's shrill voice echoing in the faint distance. He closed his eyes, imagining the near silent foot falls of the incredible thief himself, as those light feet treaded ground swiftly and easily, that coy smirk crawling to his lips when the police successfully fell into another trap—

It was then that a glimmer of noise caught with the wind and his eyes snapped open, head spinning to where the building's roof connected to the one adjacent to it.

It couldn't be—

He rushed over, cold seeping into his unzipped jacket.

And there he was, the elusive thief, bouncing the prized jewel in his hand, looking awfully uninterested in the item he had pursued the entire night.

"Why are you here?" Shinichi's cheeks were colored red with the cold, breath soft puffs and hands at his sides.

The thief turned his head from amusing himself by watching the police search for him in vain, to the delectable treat in front of him.

"I need an excuse to see you?"

Shinichi bit his lip as he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his jacket.

The thief seemed to take his silence for an answer.

"How long have you been out here?"

The detective looked away. "Not too long." Long enough to watch the dazzling lights fade, long enough to wonder what the thief was up to.

The criminal saw right through the half-hearted lie, and leaned in close to study the detective's set face.

There was an exasperated look that crossed the thief, when he wondered just how stubborn Kudo could be. Maybe he was just hell-bent on catching the criminal—or maybe, hopefully, he was just waiting to see him. The thought, and the terribly mulish but equally adorable face on the detective made him smile.

"C'mere." He commanded softly, a giddy sensation rising in his chest when the detective did as he asked, and slowly walked over, allowing himself to be enveloped in white arms.

He honestly wanted to kiss the boy senseless already, feeling excited just at the fact that Shinichi Kudo willingly stepped into his arms, allowed himself to be taken any way the thief pleased, allowed himself to be under the merciless thief and his every changing whim—

Hmmm. He'd be lying if he said _that _wasn't a turn on.

Shinichi apparently thought so too.

The detective's quick hands had already found and tore out his belt, and was already working on the zipper with practiced ease, coaxing his prize into arousal with skilled, nimble hands. He even seemed a bit amused at the thief's eagerness, chuckling a bit as felt the organ harden in his hands.

Kaito wanted to say something—anything—to tease him, torment him, a bit surprised that the usually quiet and compliant boy was suddenly making _him_ into the complacent one.

He never acted on the thought, however, as the boy dropped to his knees and a hot mouth was lapping at the head of his cock.

Kaito hissed in pleasure, Shinichi's wide and bright eyes watching him with a sultry, lidded gaze before they closed and he watched those lips slide back to expose his wet cock bit by bit and his ability to speak was slowly backtracking into grunts. He felt that skilled tongue delve into the slit and jolt hot sensation speeding into his blood. Shinichi drew in to graze his teeth slightly and Kaito fisted a handful of silky hair in his hand, mouth open to breath the ragged cold air.

A part of him wanted to lean over the railing and let Kaito fuck him relentlessly into the night, while another part wanted to see Kaito's face _right now_, warped in pleasure, the darkness cloaking most of it but not the perfect eyes and the lips he knew just by touch.

That, coupled by the fact that his stomach protested almost immediately at the thought of the dull ache that would accompany him well into the morning, factored into Shinichi's decision to make the thief come right there.

As if suddenly understanding his intentions, Kaito moved to pull the detective back to his feet, before he couldn't take it any more and end up coming right then, but Shinichi wasn't having any of it.

"Meitantei-kun…" He drawled softly, unable to keep his voice steady as the boy's head bobbed up and down, one hand in his hair and the other tugging for him to get up. "If you don't stop, I'm going to—

"Do it." The boy interrupted breathlessly, big, lust filled eyes staring up at him as he continued the motions with his hand, pert tongue coming out to lick the head. "Come for me."

_Damn_, if that wasn't inviting.

Come spurted into the boy's waiting mouth, the milky liquid catching on his cheeks and red lips, but those demanding eyes didn't leave his, and if that wasn't erotic he didn't know the meaning of the word. The brunette licked the side of his mouth where some had missed a bit, wiping the rest with the back of his hand. He'd probably come from the sight alone if he could.

Kaito pulled him up quickly to kiss him senseless, tasting his own bitterness on the boy's tongue.

"You're not usually so forward." KID murmured breathlessly with a slight hint of surprise, nuzzling the soft hair right above the boy's ear.

Shinichi flushed. The thief was right, he mostly left the foreplay up to the kinky criminal. He knew what it was, of course, he just didn't want to say it, but he could feel it welling up in the back of his throat, right there, bothersome and lodged and making its way out—"I missed you." He confessed softly, with no small amount of embarrassment, and immediately regretted it.

"Shinichi—" Kaito blinked in surprise, unprepared for the raw emotion in the brave, soft statement.

But the moment was lost, and Shinichi had already pulled on an effective mask where the tender gaze had been, settling into that impassive look Kaito had seen time and again—in magazines, on TV, in newspapers. The face of Shinichi Kudo, high school and world-renowned detective—whatever he felt was schooled into a composed, blank look.

The boy was grabbing his jacket, and making for the door when he was startled by the smoke bomb which erupted in front of him.

He was twirled around abruptly, and in the faint darkness he could make out the faintest hint of the mastermind's jaw line, and the claret red of the rose hanging from his lips.

The detective was a little more then surprised when the thief kissed him chaste on the lips, the flower passed to him.

"I missed you too." Kaito said breathlessly. "When you didn't show up, I—

He struggled for the words, wondering what to say, what could possibly calm his mortification, when the boy only smiled and took the rose out of his mouth, holding it close while he kissed the taller boy very slowly, not hot and sloppy like they had been moments ago, not tentative and confused like the had when they had first started this whole thing, just a perfect, affectionate equilibrium.

Kaito held him there, for the moment, nothing mattered, not the police—who were no doubt nearing stage twenty of his maze, and would find this place somewhere between the next three to five minutes—or the jewels, or the milky blanket of stars above them, just the feathery head nestled to his chest, just the boy he had _no fucking clue _about, the one who drove him crazy and mad and everything and _dammit_. There wasn't a single thing he knew about the detective.

Their poignant silence was broken when the teenager unexpectedly clutched his stomach, suddenly pitching almost all of his weight onto Kaito.

The thief steadied him by surprise, when the detective rocked forward to lean his head on the other boy's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked immediately, concerned for his health.

"'M fine." The detective insisted hotly.

The thief was hardly convinced, but the police would be interrupting any moment, so he gave the detective another quick kiss.

"Do me a favor." He pressed the latest artifact—this one a small jade elephant—into the detective's hand. "Get some sleep, okay?" And, with another worried look. "And see a doctor."

"I'm _fine_." Shinichi hissed, but it was without heat.

The thief tipped his hat, which had somehow found its way on top of his head from the floor, and jumped backwards into the spiraling, dizzying drop, leaving Shinichi to deal with the flabbergasted police.

-x-

The teenage detective knew he had to see Haibara when, after a particularly challenging case, he spied pickled radishes (which he hated more then anything in the entire world) and immediately found his mouth watering. After devouring three, he realized what he was doing—and, what the hell, since when did he like pickled radishes?—and found he thought them terribly delicious. That, above all else, was cause for concern. Just a month ago he'd rather be shot in the foot than eat a whole serving of these, and yet here he was, going for a _third. _

Ran was surprised (Mouri was on the case as well, but he was pretty useless) and commented that he used to throw up when his mom packed them in his lunch as a kid.

And then he had _cheese ice cream_, and at this point he knew it was imperative to see a doctor. For god's sake, he was eating cheese ice cream. He might have, like, ebola or something. Maybe these weird cravings were part of the first stages of turning into a zombie. He blinked in horror, unbelievably giving the idea some merit, before he shook his head. He was playing way too many horror games.

He stumbled into Agasa's house, and nervously called for the ex-scientist. The foyer was dark, but he could make out a faint light from down the hall, most likely where the short girl was typing away. Agasa didn't seem to be home.

"Ai-chan?"

A faint rustling, and the short brunette appeared in front of him, staring up blankly at him.

"Shinichi-kun." She responded, before ushering him inside. "I've been expecting you."

"You…" He blinked. "You have?"

Her lab coat trailed after her, and she wore gloves. He supposed she had been researching the APTX drug again, and how to counter effect it. As the creator, he had just sort of assumed the task would be easy for her.

But he soon realized that wasn't the case. The apotoxin was complex and almost unavoidable. It was a miracle the two of them were even spared its fate. Changing them back was another matter entirely, and one still in study. Even though Shinichi had taken the antidote at the first chance of a prototype that gleaned particularly good results—Ai had refused.

She said they weren't done testing, and she'd prefer to wait before using it on herself.

Shinichi preferred to be himself again, and had never regretted it.

Until now.

"What's…" He trailed of with a nervous gulp. "What's going on?"

"Sit down." She insisted, motioning to a chair in the corner, before moving towards piles of paper. "This could take a while."

He silently stood closer to it, but didn't sit down. He was too anxious.

"Ai-chan…" He fidgeted. "Am I dying?" _Or turning into a zombie_? He thought, hysterical.

"What?" She skewered him with a flat look, stopping her shuffling for a moment. "Are you stupid? Of course not."

He relaxed in relief.

"But there _is _something wrong." She amended. "This is why I told you not to take the unfinished antidote, Shinichi-kun. We didn't know what it could do to the human body, the side effects… the long-term effects. We didn't know what—" She struggled for a moment, eyes looking away. In guilt, maybe? "It would change."

"Change?" His voice rose in panic. "What's changed?"

"Originally I had expected that the APTXA 1014 would counter the effects of the poison in your system, reverting you back into your normal form for the rest of your life, while continuing to burn out the poison from your system. While it would cause serious pain in the first moment of digestion, the APTXA 1014 would become painless, and after a year or two, completely untraceable in your system."

"So?" He cocked his head. "What… does this have to do with me?"

"Because, after I ran your tests last month—"

She'd been running them weekly for a while, actually. He hadn't said anything about his suspicions with himself (the fact that he seriously thought he was dying, which Ai almost seemed to find amusing) and had simply let her draw blood and ask him routine questions.

"—I found something a little different."

"Well? What is it?"

"Have you been engaging in sexual activity?" She asked him flatly.

He flushed to his roots. "Err—uh… y—yeah. Why?"

"With another man?"

The detective was a little mortified to find a seven-year old girl asking him these questions, but answered anyway. "Yeah."

She looked nonplussed. "Unprotected?"

"I don't really—" He paused. When he thought about it, they never bothered with condoms. He could have slapped himself. Jesus he was messing around with a thief he didn't know and hadn't even thought of protection? "_Yes_." He said with no small amount of horror.

She nodded, as if she knew it all along, and was simply needed verification.

"Congratulations I guess." She drawled. "You're pregnant."

He choked.

His knees buckled.

Ai blinked slowly at him.

"Would you like an ultrasound?"

"What—" He sputtered, suddenly feeling lost and undeniably enraged. "No!"

"Okay." She said slowly, as if confused as to the sudden draining of pallor in his face, and the shaking of his entire body." You may want to sit down. And here, drink some water." She handed him a dixie cup. He took it with trembling hands.

"How did this happen?" He whispered, almost inaudible.

She sat on the chair opposite of him.

"Well, pregnancy occurs as the result of the female gamete, the oocyte, merging with the male gamete, to induce fertilization. Or conception, whichever you prefer. The two combined gametes are now considered a zygote, the fusion usually occurring in—

"Not that!" He hissed. "How did it happen _with me_?"

She cocked her head slightly. "You obviously had unprotected sex with another man, which involved him entering into—

"Nevermind." The young detective—who was now officially feeling entirely too young for this messed up life of his—blushed and steadied his head with his hands. "I don't think I want to know."

She seemed to finally understand what he was getting at, nodding slowly. "Ah. Well, like I said, you took a porotype. The toxin works at a cellular level, completely destroying the body, down to the DNA. In the .99 percent chance that you instead turn into a small child, the process of turning you back would, in theory, have to completely recreate your DNA."

"…okay?" There was a reason he was a detective, not a super scientist.

"So the prototype recreated your DNA using your current DNA as a basis. Suffice to say, it… malfunctioned."

"_Malfunctioned_?" He echoed, incredulous. "Or maybe, completely and absolutely fucked up."

Ai shrugged. "DNA construction is a fickle, amazing thing. Honestly, be thankful this is what happened, instead of the you, I don't know, randomly growing three heads."

He turned a little green at that.

There was an overlap of silence for a few centuries, as Ai continued to shuffle through her data, and Shinichi continued to close his eyes and try to pretend none of this was happening.

He thought hard on what was going to happen in his life. Abortion was premeditated murder—or at least, he strongly believed that. To do so was entirely hypocritical and against the very core of his nature. He could never… he could hardly think of it. Whatever happened as a result of taking that unfinished antidote, the result of his impatience, was something he'd have to live with. He couldn't just toss away a life simply because it would be inconvenient for him.

And then he paled.

What about the father?

He and Kaito KID had an enigmatic relationship. Actually, it wasn't even a relationship. It was like an illegal booty call. Like literally, illegal.

If he wanted to put it bluntly, Kaito would send out letters to the police to announce the location of his next heist. Shinichi wasn't stupid, even though KID found it highly amusing to toy with the police, he sent them out because he knew Shinichi would attend. He wasn't really sure how it started from just evening chats with an amiable companion who understood him better then anyone else to hot sex on whatever surface they could find—but it did.

The fact never seriously bothered Shinichi, who was content with the outcome of their relationship for the time being.

It did now.

More importantly, how the hell was he supposed to tell the thief?

And what did he expect the thief to do with the knowledge?

For once in the detective's life, he didn't have an answer. And he had no way of getting one, either.

"So, ultrasound?" Ai asked again, finally peering up from her computer.

Shinichi blanched. "Pass." He waved off.

Ai made a noncommittal noise. "Well, you should do it eventually, if only for me to get a good look at how the hell your insides got re-arranged. Since you aren't dead yet, and you haven't reported any symptoms of sever pain, I'm going to assume that however this is working out, it's not life threatening."

"Great." Shinichi sighed.

So, _physically, _this wasn't life threatening. In every other way though, it kind of was.

-x-

The next week, another heist was planned.

Shinichi was surprised when his quiet evening of homework was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

He laid his pencil down and grabbed for it, flipping it open to find an unknown number blinking back at him.

A letter. The detective immediately turned on his TV to the news, where the exact same letter was being examined on the screen.

But his was different.

There was a one-eyed smiley face with a monocle, signed Kaito KID, and at the end of the riddle, _I'll be waiting for you, Meitantei-kun._

A flutter of excitement curled in his stomach.

It immediately met its demise when he thought of what else was currently curling in his stomach.

That night found him studying himself in the mirror, the steam from the shower misting the top and coloring his skin a bit pink. His stomach looked pretty much the same as it always had. The muscles from years of soccer were taut against his finger when he nudged it, and there wasn't any sort of bump like he had assumed would be there.

He promised himself that tomorrow he'd go back to Ai, and ask her more questions about this whole pregnancy thing.

He had kind of just bolted out of the house, walking hastily into the brisk air and hoping he had been dreaming. Instead, he woke up the next day, went to school, tried hard not to think about it and almost convinced himself that the entire events of yesterday were a fucked up dream when he suddenly had the urge to vomit his lunch. At least now he had a word for the symptoms. Morning sickness. Ugh.

The detective studied his side view, pajama bottoms loose on his hips, the red-checkered flannel material itching against his legs.

There wasn't a noticeable change, he poked again.

Nope, it was just muscle. No squishy pregnancy fat.

Maybe Ai had been wrong?

"I'm not wrong."

The woman insisted monotonously the next day when he arrived at Agasa's house. The plump old man was whistling from the kitchen, where he had started dinner.

Shinichi frowned petulantly, crossing his arms. "I'm like what, a month or two already?"

"I'd say anywhere from seven to eight weeks."

"I can't see anything!" He lifted up his shirt; Ai whistled approvingly at the sight. He flushed and immediately pulled it back down. "Aren't you supposed to see something? Like a bump?"

Ai shook her head. "First of all, you moron, you're a boy. That's with girls. This is obviously an entirely different case of pregnancy, so if you've been looking stuff online—which I assume you have—" Shinichi flushed at being found out so easily. "You should stop. All your going to do is confuse yourself. From the forming of the fetus, I'd think that you're going to barely notice the bump at all. Surely not at only, what, six or seven—maybe eight depending on fertilization—weeks along. Maybe around twenty to twenty-four weeks you'll start to see a little bit."

She paused, as if contemplating.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Can I…" He began softly, eyes downcast, hands wrapped around his stomach. "See an ultrasound?"

Ai's piercing gaze softened a bit. "Lay down on the table."

The machine was seriously creepy looking, and the gel was cold. He winced at the feeling on his sensitive stomach, but Ai didn't seem to pay it any mind. She stood on a stool to get to the height above the detective, rubbing the gel onto some strange thing which he assumed would be rolling around on his stomach, watching the screen.

"Alright, it's not going to hurt any, so you can stop looking so scared."

He smiled a little at that.

"How do you know all about this?" He asked her, genuinely curious.

She blinked at him. "Before I joined…" Ai trailed off, looking thoughtful. "Before I was officially recruited into Black Organization, I had always wanted to be a obstetrician." A soft look made its way onto her face. "I—Akemi always loved children. I majored it in college, but I'm in no means a professional."

Shinichi tactfully ended the conversation.

He got used to the cold soon enough, and his eyes eventually moved to where Ai's were trained on the screen. The wide looking screen in the shape of a triangle, and the machine was loud.

"Hmm…." Ai looked thoughtful. "A little small, heartbeat around one-hundred ten beats. That's not too surprising though; I imagine it'll be smaller than normal throughout all stages."

"Wait—heartbeat?" Shinichi blinked in surprise, moving up onto his elbows for a better look. "Can you hear it?"

Haibara skewered him with a flat glare. "Of course not." She pointed to a slightly moving gray and black blob among the entire picture of gray and black. "See that little thing right there? It's kind of moving left and right?"

He nodded slowly.

"That's the heartbeat."

He stared at it in awe, wondering how such a tiny thing could hold such a significant meaning. It hardly looked like it was moving at all, just vague shapes on the ultrasound, a small circle, so tiny and _important_.

The detective almost immediately felt sick.

"Shinichi-kun?" The scientist began carefully, stopping the probing object to retreat it back where it had came from—lord knew why Agasa had a fucking ultrasound in his house, but then, why did he have all the other crap he had no use for?—when she noticed his stricken face.

"I—

He grabbed one of the tissues sitting on the table nearby Ai's makeshift examination room, rubbing it hastily over his wet stomach.

"I've got to go."

She frowned at this. "Running away isn't going to solve anything."

"I'm not running away." He echoed her words, but even to him they felt limp, useless. "I just… can't think about this right now."

The girl looked as if she wanted him to stay, but she shook her head. "Go, then." She said softly, a look of understanding on her face.

Shinichi had never been one to run away, (and he was totally, totally running away) he faced everything head on, cases, murders, even hunting down Black Organization members. But this problem was a little harder to cope with then being shrunk into a child's body, or solving crimes. This wasn't some trite, insipid little problem he could brush off, there was no missing piece to the Arcanum, nothing to figure out.

-x-


	3. I'll be the wings that

Knowing this didn't make him feel any better.

What he really wanted, was to feel Kaito's arms wrapped around him, to whisper those sweet nothings he was terribly good at, the coquetry endless in his ear; to be in one of those few precious moments where all he worried about was catching his breath and trying not to blow his load before they really got started.

There was no full moon, but there was a heist.

The night found him shifting uncomfortably on the rooftop, fully aware of the criminal behind him, eying his every move. The police shouted around them, so close yet so distant. Meters away, but no closer to solving the intricate maze KID set for them then they ever were. Nakamori-san was hollering over the communication, and Shinichi could hear the receiver from where it hung limp on KID's shoulder.

He turned around, steeling himself against the railing, ice cold winds picking up the chords of his jacket into the night, his hair, Kaito's cape, and possibly all of his courage along with it.

Suddenly, he felt entirely unprepared to meet that face—even if he couldn't really make out the defining features in the darkness—and wanted to bolt down the stairs and right out of the thief's life.

But gloved hands came to rest on his, as the thief leaned in with soft breath to his ear, and his stomach flopped at the sensation.

Shinichi didn't know what he wanted.

Scratch that.

Curse his teenage libido, he knew _exactly _what he wanted.

"Meitantei-kun—

The thief's words were muffled when Shinichi abruptly pulled the hat aside, tugging the other boy closer so that his lips met the others. If the thief was surprised with his forwardness, he didn't show it, only smirking and pressing the smaller boy into the rigid railing around the rooftop.

When Kaito pulled away from those perfect bruised lips, the detective opened his eyes dazedly, the face before him shrouded in darkness.

This had never bothered him before.

Kaito KID's real identity had hardly ever perked his interest more than once or twice—and after they had begun their quasi relationship, it stopped entirely—but he'd be lying if he said that he didn't want to know his identity now.

For god's sake, this was the father of his goddamn child.

(Shinichi really didn't want to think about that)

((_it was kind of a turn off_))

Said father to be was kneeing his hands into the soft, taut flesh of the detective's stomach, enjoying the little keening mewls that the detective let out with vicious pleasure.

"You're so _sensitive_." Kaito grinned puckishly, lowering himself to where he had pulled Shinichi's shirt up to expose that delightful midriff.

The detective covered his mouth against the moan that left him when the thief licked stripes across his abdomen, blushing furiously and hating himself for being so responsive to every grazing touch. He gripped the railing with his other hand, arching into that hot mouth that lapped at his stomach.

"S—shut up." He hissed in embarrassment, which only furthered the thief's amusement. "And keep going."

The thief knew exactly what he was talking about, and he pulled himself up to ruthlessly plunder Shinichi's mouth, nimble hands undoing the button of his pants and—

"Hah…" His voice was breathless when frosted hands found their prize. He hissed. "Kaito—your hands are fucking _cold_."

"Sorry." He didn't sound all that apologetic.

Kuroba loved those few, scarce moments when Shinichi used his real name. Even if the detective was unaware that he was even doing it (maybe because he had no idea who Kaito KID really was?), perhaps it was knowing that he was the reason the usually unfrazzled detective was a panting mess, that only he could make the boy gasp and moan in such a flustered fashion.

"Tell me what you want, Shinichi." He whispered into the shell of the boy's ear, pulling his head back to watch the blue of the boy's eyes darken, a smoldering look as they burned into his own.

Shinichi bit his lip. "I—

But the thief didn't give him any time to answer, as he was cut off by an abrupt, jerking hand, and his half formed plots were lost as his eyes fluttered closed in pleasure.

Kaito groaned.

He lost himself in the beautiful lines of the boy's face, thick lashes lowered alluringly against the burning blue eyes that he dreamt about hazily in the deepest recesses of his mind, the pink mouth that was bruised from his own nipping teeth, tousled chocolate hair that stuck to the sides of his face and skewed over his head.

"I want…" Kaito sucked in a breath as Shinichi continued to pump him slowly, pulling one of the boy's legs so it could curl around his waist. Hands wrapped around his neck and tugged at his collar. Shinichi's face was scrunched in pleasure and embarrassment, because he knew acutely what he wanted but didn't want to have to say it—"I want you inside me."

Kaito wasn't sure how he was still thinking coherently after that arousing plead.

"Now?"

A helpless moan and a nod against his shoulder. "_Right now._"

One way or another, the detective ended up sprawled on the floor, hands tied in his shirt with quick work by the thief and jacket underneath him, not bothering with the cold of the roof top or the ache of his back from the fall, because Kaito crawled on top of him, most of his outfit divested from his person and fallen around them haphazardly, and Shinichi a writhing mess beneath him, unable to break free of those wicked little bonds Kaito had brought with him.

"Like that?" He asked, scissoring his fingers inside the boy and smirking when the lithe body arched in pleasure.

"Yeah…" Shinichi answered mindlessly, not really thinking much when Kaito hit that spot again and he was twisting, hands bound above him, legs stuck in his jeans, fairly effectively tied up. "This is a little kinky, y'know?" His voice was breathless and shaky, but Kaito could see the amused smirk against his lips.

Kaito shrugged. "You don't seem to be complaining."

"No." Shinichi agreed, breath hitching as Kaito added another.

Kaito slowly pried his legs out of his jeans, lowering himself down with a gleeful look in his eye as Shinichi opened his eyes when he stopped his teasing ministrations.

There was apprehension in them. "KID…what are you—

He didn't finish his sentence because Kaito was inspecting his handiwork with a pleased eye, and his breath hitched as the thief abruptly pulled his fingers out. He pushed the boy's legs up more, exposing that perfect little hole for his prowling eyes.

Shinichi seemed to have caught on by then, yelping "_Don't_!" But Kaito had already descended.

"Ha—ahh…" The boy was moaning in a miserable mixture of absolute pleasure and mortification, turning his head away in embarrassment, hands fighting the bonds as he attempted to scoot away, but Kaito's rigid grip kept him in place. There was really nothing he enjoyed more than a rim job, really, especially with Shinichi, who loved it but hated to have to admit to it.

"Don't what?" He asked suavely, fully knowing the answer at this point.

There was shifting from above him, and Kaito could tell the detective was trying to melt himself into the pavement at his own embarrassment. Shinichi had one weakness—physical, or really, romantic touch—which further developed into two certain places on his body that could send him reeling in mindless passion. And Kaito knew both of them.

"Don't stop." The boy mumbled.

The thief took immense pleasure lapping at the perfect hole, dipping past the ring of muscle and relishing in the struggled, gasping mewls the little kitten was making. While all he wanted to do was lick and stab and _suck _at it until Shinichi was nothing but a sobbing mess, he'd miss his opportunity to what he really wanted to do.

He stopped abruptly and the erotic sounds the detective was making eased into impatient panting, and he spared a wicked look at the detective's flushed and mortified face.

The thief slapped around behind them for his clothing (which had been torn apart at the opportune moment) and eventually reached one of the hidden pockets in his coat where he kept the lube. He flipped the cap open and hissed at the cold gel, eyes never leaving Shinichi's lowered gaze.

The detective closed his eyes as he felt the hard, stiff head of Kaito's cock hovering just outside him, taking a harsh intake of breath as the thick, rigid shaft impaled him slowly. Kaito hissed at the flawless wet heat, trying not to ram himself into the hilt immediately and give the boy time to adjust.

He pulled the detective's legs onto his shoulders to push in easier, but he found that, instead, he had only made the passage constrict even more, and the boy under him wriggled helplessly when he accidentally brushed the spot that made him moan aloud.

The angle was perfection, and Shinichi was so tight that he wasted no opportunity to plow into the pliant body beneath him, tiny little moans doing nothing but edging him on.

"Kaito—

His name, again, and a spike of arousal nearly sent him diving off the edge.

"I'm…" An abrupt thrust cut off the detective. "Holy shit, I'm going to—"

Shinichi cried aloud, not those breathy little gasps and puffs of half-formed words that went straight to his cock, but an actual cry that was almost music to his ears. It didn't take much besides a vocal little detective beneath him for Kaito to follow, leaning into the boy's compliant body, the shorter brunette squirming underneath him as he came inside with a groan.

After moments of collapsing on top of the panting boy, Kaito eventually struggled to move on limp arms, making a move to pull himself out of the docile body beneath him when Shinichi stopped him.

"Don't… pull out." He trailed off sleepily. The detective obviously hadn't followed his directions—for the second time now!—and gotten rest. "I want to feel you."

He smiled softly, maybe in exhaustion (the boy really could wear him out) and leaned down to press an easy kiss to those soft lips—

"Kaito?"

The magician nearly jumped at the voice of his best friend.

"Err—" _Shit_! "Aoko-chan?! What are you doing in my room?"

She tilted her head slightly, messy, wild hair brushing her shoulders. "I'm here to wake you up. You promised you would walk me to school, remember?"

"I did?"

Her stern glance sent him backtracking.

"Of course I did!" He broke into nervous laughter. "Now why don't you leave so I can change?"

There was an amused look on her face. "You looked like you were having a good dream. What were you thinking about?"

He was thinking about how he had his wicked way with a certain beautiful detective a couple days ago.

"Hehe…" He grinned, sliding purposefully so his head was over the edge of his bed, and lower abdomen suspiciously covered in the most blankets. "I was thinking about white and blue stripes."

A pause, as he let the words sink in.

"Oooh! And a ribbon, too!"

Aoko smacked him, stalking out of the room as he grinned like a fool.

He couldn't help it.

Today was a _good day_.

And it had everything to do with Shinichi Kudo.

Just thinking about how easily the other boy let Kaito claim him was enough for his half-formed erection to spring to full life. He wasn't really sure how on Earth he managed to snag the most available bachelor in all of Edoka and Beika combined, how on _Earth_ that very same boy was underneath him last night, filled up with his—

Kaito cut the thought of their with a blush, stepping into the shower and immediately switching it to cold.

Still, the fact that Shinichi willingly came to him, willingly spoke it out loud, _"I missed you…" _was a little more then surprising. The thought, the little hushed confession, had him grinning silly in the shower as he rubbed his hair, thinking of how adorable the younger boy was. His soft hair, cut around his eyes and the little piece that stuck up in the back no matter how many times Kaito smoothed it down, the slight smile he wore, and, even better, the audible noises he made _only _for Kaito.

He toweled off his hair and stepped onto the shaggy rug of his bathroom, Shinichi's chimerical voice still a cacophony in his ears _(don't pull out) _a symphony that hadn't ended last night, carrying on into his dreams _((I want to feel you…)) _and now, well into the morning.

Kaito wanted nothing more then Shinichi right there with him.

The first thought he entertained himself as he brushed his teeth, was of Shinichi bent over his sink, hands gripping the faucet and scattering all the items on the surface clattering to the floor, panting for more, even thought the two of them had hardly woken up moments ago. He wondered what it would be like to wake up with the detective next to him, the peaceful features of his dreaming face the first thing he saw in the morning.

Afterwards he entertained his thoughts on Shinichi's reaction to his true identity. The detective was everything he had imagined, that stand off demeanor the media portrayed him with, that always came off a bit arrogant. And yet, with the elusive thief—the last person on Earth Kaito would have expected the detective to fall for—he was _more; _explicit moments of humor, the quirk of his lips, the look as he turned to Kaito with something endless in his eyes: everything congealed together to make the boy in the papers into the boy waiting on the rooftop with windy hair and cloudy eyes.

He made his way out of the bathroom eventually, pulling his shirt on as he heard Aoko putter about in his kitchen.

Kaito walked into the main room, Aoko already at the door, looking impatient as if she had been waiting for him for a while.

She looked ready to yell at him, when she stopped, abruptly, to study his face.

The boy had a look of stupid happiness.

"I don't know who she is." Aoko began slowly, eyes blinking big at him as she shifted her weight by the door. "But,"

"Eh?"

"Face it Kaito, you're falling." She pointed out. "Fast."

-x-

Next week made thirteen weeks since conception.

Or that's what Ai said, anyhow, after she had dragged him into Agasa's house.

After the latest KID heist, Shinichi spent most of the last two weekend days sleeping off most of his exhaustion, only moving to eat or get more comfortable. Ran had visited him, he thought, or maybe she hadn't. Maybe it had just been a dream. Luckily, his dreams had been pretty uneventful, coarse whispers that he could hardly remember upon awaking.

Sometimes he'd feel something wrestle in his stomach, and he'd touch it curiously, as if still not quite believing something was _in_ there.

He hadn't the courage to ask Ai how it came to be there, judging from her last answer.

Anyway, so he'd pretty much loafed about after the Thursday night heist, which included less stealing of jewels and more stealing of his sanity. This time, though, his back hadn't been rubbed raw from the gravel, as he had been smart enough to lay his jacket down first. Downside; now his jacket smelt like Kaito KID and silvery nights, and now he didn't have the heart to wash it. Today was Thursday all over again, and he could hardly recall the school days he had attended other then a blur of sharp glances and low droning.

"You're sleeping a lot because you overexert yourself." Ai snapped at him when he brought up the subject. "You're caring for two people now. Two people need twice the amount of sleep."

She paused. A rather irritated look crossing her face. "And _twice_ the nutrition. It looks to me like you're barely eating for _half _a person." The short brunette hopped onto the tall stool—he usually would have found this comical, if she hadn't been reprimanding him—"You're not Conan anymore. You're a growing seventeen—

"Eighteen." He corrected with emphasis.

"Eighteen," She amended. "Year old boy and you need to remember you're also a thirteen week old child who has no way of feeding itself aside from whatever its mother decides to eat. Or should I say, _when_ its mother decides to eat. "

He cringed at that.

Damn.

Guilt trip.

So he hadn't really cared much about his health for the past couple weeks…months. But he had never had to in the past, either. Conan didn't need to eat a lot, and before that, he spent most of his time solving mysterious and grabbing whatever he could, whenever he could. He couldn't help that he had never really sat down and attacked an entire family's worth of food, which, apparently, he was supposed to do now.

Good _god_, he was taking care of someone else now.

He was going to be a _fucking _parent.

How the hell was he supposed to do that when he could hardly take care of himself?

Not for the first time since this shitshow started, he contemplated somehow aborting it. But how the hell would he do that? He couldn't just walk into a clinic, line up with a whole bunch of women, and ask for an abortion. He snorted. He could imagine that going down very poorly. And he doubted Ai's brief stint in medical school would prepare her for that kind of procedure.

He realized blearily that he hadn't really been thinking clearly on any of this. He had convinced himself he didn't have time to think about the fact that sooner or later he'd have to face the truth that he had fucked this up, because it was _him _who took the prototype, knowing that there would be dire consequences, but not caring either way, just wanting to be how he was before.

And he'd have to own up.

"Thanks for everything, Haibara-chan."

The girl—woman—peered at him puzzlingly. "Where are you going?" She asked him.

He smiled.

"I'm gonna go get some food."

Ran was entirely too pleased when he asked her to go to dinner with him.

She entered the ramen shop looking quite like her usual self, kind and concerned, hair blowing in the light afternoon rain. He had forced himself to eat an entire bowl—luckily, the immediate recoil to throw it up had quelled considerably to allow him to eat without thinking of the near future, and where the nearest bathroom was. Ran was pleasant, and even, darehesay, friendly? He tried to remember the last time the two of them had hung out, not separated by age difference or cases, or his bigoted infatuation with crime and Sherlock Holmes.

"Wow, look at that!" She was pointing to the television screen propped near the bar, where the inhabitants of the restaurant had curiously moved closer to it.

He did, almost dropping his entire spoonful of hot broth in his lap.

There was his face.

And the masked appearance of Kaito KID.

"_With another Kaito KID heist scheduled for this Saturday, and if our police reports are correct, occurring at the stroke of midnight—we ask ourselves, when will the day Kaito KID will be captured?"_

After a screenshot of those embarrassingly moronic little notes Kaito loved to make, including his caricature of himself and a heart, as usual, the camera was panned to the streets, which were crowded with Kaito KID supporters.

"_We love Kaito KID!" _A girl with curly honey brown hair and a gaggle of friends were standing with Kaito KID badges. _"He's by far the most amazing criminal in the world! Isn't it crazy how long he's been able to avoid the authorities?" _The blonde went on to say, _"He's like a modern day robin hood!"_

Shinichi sighed and propped his head on one hand. This whole thing was going _straight_ to KID's head, no doubt.

"_KID is amazing!" _Another girl was saying, this one sounding familiarly like…

"Sonoko-chan!" Ran gasped aloud.

Shinichi wanted to bang his head into the plastic table.

"_Hi, I'm the executive for the Kaito KID fanclub, Suzuki Sonoko! Listen, do you think Kaito KID is sexy? Because we do! We think its in everyone's best interest to work _together,_" _She emphasized the word with air quotation marks. _"With the police, that way when they catch him, we can see him unmasked! What do you say, people?"_

Cheers erupted from the girls behind her, a variety of posters and signs flying into the air and wobbling on a sea of outstretched arms. Sonoko made a victory pose for the camera, fingers in the "peace" sign and one hand on her canted hip. She looked like every second-rate superhero out of a b-rated movie. It was slightly disheartening.

"People really make a fuss about him, don't they?" He muttered aloud.

Ran turned curiously to him. "What's he like, Shinichi-kun?"

"Eh?" Shinichi looked up quickly.

"You know, Kaito KID!" She elaborated. "You've met him before, haven't you? What was he like?" Ran tented her hands and cocked her chin on them, looking quite intrigued.

"He—well…" Shinichi scratched his cheek. "He's really arrogant." He decided upon. "The problem is that the police never catch him, and it ends up going straight to his head." Shinichi sighed. "He'll get caught eventually if that ego of his keeps growing."

Ran hummed thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, the TV had reverted back to the newscast room, where a comely looking fake blonde was reading the latest reports on the heist scheduled in the next two days.

"_While the police have unsuccessfully tried to capture the criminal, we've received information from a reliable source in the task force of a character many are considering to be Kaito KID's, dare I say, rival." _She shuffled her papers, turned a couple over_. "Recent developments have shown a trend in the location of the Kanto Region for the province with the most Kaito KID resurgences prior to eight years ago. We have on good account that prominent high school detective Kudo Shinichi has been to almost every heist, effectively handling the situation and almost always retrieving the stolen gems and artifacts before the police."_

Ran raised her brows, looking with a bit of venerate awe.

Shinichi covered his face with his hands.

"_Many would consider the two of them to be rivals." _The spokeswoman's male counterpart chuckled jokingly.

"_I agree with you there, Takinawa-san." _The woman had a terrible, shrill laugh.

"_This is Channel Ten news, covering all the hottest news in Tohoku, Kanto, and Chubu." _The man said, wrapping up the program. _"The only Channel to have complete coverage of every Kaito KID heist! Now, coming up next, the television show which has rocked the entire world with its dramatic—_

"Rivals, huh?" Ran teased.

Shinichi only coughed. "That's stupid. I have no emotional connection to that idiot. They only say things like that to get people's attention."

"Really." She mused.

"Really." He echoed, flatly.

Ran only smiled. "Tell me honestly, Shinichi. You go to every Kaito KID heist you can, even when you have a case or homework, or well, _anything_. Even when the police don't call you in for them! Can you really say you don't find them interesting?"

"They're amusing, I guess." He bit out, forcing himself to drink the rest of his udon.

She looked just this side of triumphant.

"You do." She speculated wildly—or perhaps not too wildly. "They fascinate you, I can tell. What's so interesting about them, though? Thievery cases hardly interested you before."

He knew everything Ran was saying was only guesswork, and she was saying it aloud to get an accurate reading of his facial expressions. He smothered his blush and formed a completely blank look on his face, using his chopsticks to slurp down his noodles.

"What's so special about—

Ran abruptly caught the gaze of someone behind him, standing a bit and waving with a wide smile.

"Aoko-chan!"

Oh yeah, that girl slash his savior from before.

He turned around lazily, not particularly interested in her—she had been a welcomed reprieve from Ran and Sonoko, sure, but she wasn't really anything besides that—one hand holding the bowl and the other feeding the noodles to his mouth with chopsticks.

The girl looked the same, wild short hair and a beaming smile that almost completely matched Ran's.

It was her company that made him blink.

The boy had tousled caramel hair, not as dark as Shinichi's, but not as light as to be considered blonde. He also looked like he had never once used a comb. His shirt had a smiley face on it Shinichi was sure belonged to some kind of brand, and he wore an outrageous plaid shirt over top, jeans ripped at the bottom but snug on his hips. His shoes seemed to be testimony to his youth, as they were scuffed considerably as if he had spent the entire morning prior running through a alleyways and climbing over walls.

He was pretty attractive, Shinichi surmised.

But he turned away regardless, not particularly interested in the boy.

There was really only one person he was interested in.

-x-

Kuroba Kaito was having a very different day.

Unlike Shinichi, who had slept off the entire weekend, Kaito had been busy planning his next heist. He didn't get much of anything done, too busy thinking about the detective who plagued his thoughts. Then, on Monday, Aoko had woken him up at the crack of dawn.

"You're falling." She had said, slyly. "Fast."

Blushing, he had immediately asked for an explanation, to which Aoko only waved him off with genuine amusement, skipping in front of him and looking entirely too pleased with herself.

Kaito wanted to strangle her.

He opted to instead: turn her hair pink, flip her skirt up, and tie her to her chair to interrogate her.

"Are you stupid?!" She cried aloud, wrestling against the seat of her desk, which had been coated in a stick substance to which only Kaito had the antidote for. "It means you're in love! I don't know who she is, Kaito, but you definitely like her!"

Kaito gaped.

Then gaped some more.

Aoko yowled at him and looked like a cat hissing in fury.

Akako slid up to him with her customary silence, so silent in fact, that not even the great Kaito KID had heard her.

"With that boy," She whispered into his ear menacingly, making him jump and spill the entire can of "antidote" (which was actually soda water) all over Aoko, which in turn made her scream at an ungodly decibel which then triggered the idiotic resident detective Hakuba Saguru to come to her rescue.

In the entire flurry of events, Akako had somehow managed to pull herself into his lap to say, conspiratorially and with great satisfaction, "Kudo Shinichi, am I right?"

He flushed, she laughed, and Aoko was still screaming in the background, as Hakuba tried to pull her out of the chair and ended up groping one of her breasts.

In the end, Aoko had beat him up quite severely with a mop (what she didn't know, was that "he" was actually a plastic decoy) and extracted a promise to take her to whatever restaurant she wanted. The two ended up deciding upon some sort of noodle place, but didn't have the time or energy to go until Thursday, when Aoko got fed up with Kaito's excuses to drag him by the ear all the way to the station, ignoring his token protests and squawks, and shouting at him about her ruined clothes and his lecherous ways.

(which she didn't even know the _half _of)

And all of it lead to his current predicament.

"Aoko-chan!"

Random girls coming up to them in public and greeting his best friend was a part of daily life. Aoko was ridiculously popular, by anyone's standards, and it wasn't unusual for random people he'd never seen in his life—like that crazy Sonoko chick who was obsessed with his alter ego—to pull her aside and end up dragging the two of them to somewhere to do something that Kaito had absolutely no patience for. It was kind of the reason he hardly hung out with Aoko unless he absolutely didn't have a choice, even more so when they were in public places. Sometimes it was okay, like when they had those tickets on the train with the Ingram royalty (mainly because he wanted to steal the Ingram jewel, and also because no one would know her on some random train like that)

Ran, as he learned when Aoko squealed her name, wasn't very interesting.

He had never really been into girls like that, so he supposed his opinion was rather biased.

She kind of reminded him of Aoko in a way, aside from the fact her hair was long and straight, bangs sweeping across her cheery face and cut around her cheeks. She didn't have the wild hair that stuck up every which way and looked almost shaggy like Aoko did, and she was a bit more reserved then the mop-wielding inspector's daughter. She was okay, though, and Kaito supposed he could tolerate the girl if she dragged him and Aoko off somewhere.

He was prepared for an evening of girl's gossiping and boredom.

He was _not _prepared for Kudo Shinichi staring blankly at him.

Kaito immediately schooled his features into a pleasant, impassive face, as the two girls chattered happily around him.

Shinichi's eyes met his for a brief moment, before the detective turned away, uninterested entirely.

Kaito's first thought was of absolute panic—what if the detective realized who he was? Would he rat him out to Aoko and everyone there? Would he call off their relationship (or whatever it could be considered), and never want to see him again? Would he be disappointed? Disgusted?

Kaito was _so_ not ready for this.

"You should sit with us!" Ran called to Aoko, who laughed.

"Sure! Of course!" She turned to her company. "Kaito, come on!"

Kaito reluctantly followed, as Ran called a waitress to pull two tables together so that the four could sit comfortably. As he warily edged into his seat, two girls immediately launching into conversation, he couldn't help but stare curiously at the detective diagonal to him.

Shinichi looked…

Well rested, was his first thought.

Had the detective actually followed his advice and gotten some sleep?

Kaito had never been on the receiving end of the cold, flat stare the detective was known for, but he found that, remembering that exact face in the thralls of passion, a moment which no one but him would understand, helped to counter balance it. There were a couple moments when the face would slip, usually when Ran said something embarrassing or funny, and the boy would cover his smile or amusement. He was dreadfully beautiful, as always. Dark hair covering his forehead with a soft, feathery look—he would know, he'd ran his hands through it countless times—that adorable piece in the back that never really stuck down, idly eating his food.

He almost choked when the boy's collar shifted a bit, and he could see the red mark he'd left there from their last encounter.

No one else seemed to have noticed it, and it was covered with another shift of the boy's lean body.

"So you're really Kudo Shinichi, right?" Aoko turned the conversation to the boy, who blinked out of his stupor. "The famous high school detective?"

"Well I'm not really famous…" He began modestly, ducking his head.

Cute.

Aoko grinned. "Sure you are. We've met before, I think."

"Yeah, at pinkberry." The detective nodded slowly.

What?

Kaito gaped.

Hold on, wasn't pinkberry that stupid new girly shop that opened up somewhere that Aoko had been begging to go to for weeks? The same pinkberry he had ditched to go to because he had a heist to plan for, and had thought the whole thing would be stupid, girly, and uneventful?

"No, no!" Aoko giggled. "Before that, silly! You work on a lot of Kaito KID cases, right?"

At the mention of Kaito KID, Shinichi gulped and feigned a half-shrug.

"You haven't been watching the news lately, have you Aoko-chan?" Ran cut in with a teasing grin.

"Huh?" Aoko turned to her questioningly. "No, why?"

Shinichi sighed and propped his chin with his hand, suddenly not interested in his food at all at the mention of that stupid broadcast.

"No reason!" Ran giggled. "It was on a couple minutes ago, and they were saying all sorts of things about Kaito KID and Shinichi-kun."

"Things?" Kaito interrupted suddenly with a burst of curiosity in the new turn in the subject. "Like what?"

Ran hid her smile. "Oh, not much. Just that they're rivals and stuff."

"His rival?" Kaito echoed.

Rivals… ?

"The great Sherlock Holmes of this century has a rival?" Aoko echoed, in reverence and bemusement.

"Yeah." Ran winked at said detective. "Kaito KID would be the Irene Adler to your Sherlock Holmes, wouldn't he, Shinichi-kun?"

Both boys blushed at that.

"Ran," Shinichi snapped in embarrassment. "What are you—

But her and Aoko had already dived headfirst into bursts of laughter, unable to control themselves at Shinichi's expense. Kaito, for his part, managed a few weak chuckles at the poor blushing detective, inwardly both glowing and mortified.

"I'm kidding, Shinichi-kun!" She smiled playfully, and Shinichi could read between the lines. Of course she wasn't.

That conniving little—

"I'm Aoko Nakamori," Aoko butted in before Shinichi could say something he would regret. "my father is the chief of the Kaito KID task force, so sometimes I tag along. I'm not very much help, but I've seen you around before."

She paused then, genuinely interested. "You're the only one who's ever been so close to catching him."

Shinichi only smiled slightly at that, a wondrous, vague quick of his lips.

Geez.

Kaito groaned.

Now wonder he has such a huge fanclub. Hell, it could be bigger then Kaito KID's, even!

"It's nice to meet you again, then, Nakamori-san."

Aoko giggled, Ran was smiling brightly, and Kaito was wondering what was _really_ going on in the detective's head. As he had figured would be the case, the boy was masking his emotions with that polite, but standoffish demeanor, and hadn't really given any of them a wide view into his thoughts.

"So, what do you think of him?" Aoko asked with veritable interest, propping her head on her hands with a sweet smile on her face.

Shinichi paused deceptively slowly, stirring his thoughts and schooling his features. "What do you mean?"

"Kaito KID!" Aoko explained, a nasty pout forming on her face. "That scoundrel! What do you think of him?"

"I already asked him." Ran rolled her eyes. "He said he was arrogant, and one of these days he was going to get himself caught."

Kaito felt himself deflate.

Shinichi shrugged. "It's true."

"That's good!" Aoko pumped her fist, a light in her eyes. "That means Tou-chan will finally be able to catch him!"

Shinichi hid his chuckle behind his drink. "Unlikely." He muttered, but Kaito was the only one who caught it.

"That's not necessarily true." Shinichi allowed after a moment, amending his prior statement. "KID is way too smart to be outwitted by the police, even if he's really too big-headed." And, wryly, he added, "Also, all this media attention is probably not helping with that."

Aoko was nodding her head seriously, looking engrossed with the young detective, while Ran looked as if she had seen that contemplating look on the detectives face countless times. Kaito supposed he had only seen it pass the boy's face once or twice; usually he had his victorious smirk when he met up with the thief, already having solved the criminal's elaborate schemes.

"But you catch him all the time!" Aoko pointed. "With you on the force, I bet it won't take much for Kaito KID to be caught!"

Shinichi looked a little sheepish. "I guess." The way he said it made Kaito feel like he really didn't want KID to be caught.

He relished the thought.

Eventually Aoko and Ran had finished up their food (Shinichi had pretty much been done and Kaito hadn't ordered anything) they took to the streets in a flurry of excitement, the four of them walking to the station, where Aoko and Kaito would get on the train to get back to Edoka. Kaito made sure to keep his pace in the halfway point between where Aoko and Ran were chatting away happily, and where Shinichi was plodding along sullenly half a step behind. Kaito immediately got the suspicion that Shinichi was ill, as the boy suddenly looked fragile and frail. He wanted nothing more then to pull him closer, but the act itself would only confuse the boy and blow his cover.

"You okay?" He opted for, hands in his pockets and trying to look a lot more uninterested then he was.

Shinichi looked vaguely surprised at the inquiry. "I'm fine." He insisted. Now where had Kaito heard that before? "I'm just a little sick."

Kaito nodded, almost reaching out to grab his shoulder when the detective grimaced.

"Are you sure?" He asked hastily, concern melting his façade of disinterest.

Shinichi looked as if he was going to brush him off, pausing before deciding against it. "I'll be fine." He said after a moment, Ran and Aoko in the background. "It'll pass."

Kaito frowned worriedly. As KID, Shinichi hardly told him anything personal. He supposed as some roundabout friend of a friend he probably wouldn't get much information either, but at least at this point the detective told him more. He turned to Ran, who was giggling cheerily about something Aoko had said, wondering if she knew what was the matter with him. Shinichi groaned softly from beside him, looking like he was about to be sick.

What the young thief didn't know, was that he was.

Shinichi cursed his luck.

He hadn't gotten sick after eating in a week or two now, why was it coming back now?

"You should get some more sleep." Kaito advised before he could stop himself. Shinichi looked up abruptly, and he quickly added, "You look like you're about to fall over."

Shinichi looked as if he found his worry amusing. "You're the second person who's told me that."

Hmmm.

Big guess as to who the first was.

Kaito flushed. "We—well I mean… I'm just concerned is all. I feel like you're gonna throw up—

"Probably." The boy chuckled weakly.

Kaito gaped. "Does that happen a lot?"

"Has been." The detective informed as if it wasn't any big deal. Kaito wanted to grab him by his pretty little hands and drag him to the nearest hospital and demand treatment.

The smaller boy seemed to catch his surprised and worried look.

"Don't worry." He waved it off. "I'm not dying or anything." (but he had been under the impression he was for some time now).

"Are you sick?"

"Sort of…" Shinichi paused, trying to find the right words. His eyes caught a baby boutique they were passing, filled with soft pastel colors and checkered patterns. His eyes lingered on it and his train of thought blustered about in his head. "But I'll be better soon." He gave him a half-smile then.

Kaito swooned. Silently, though. It wouldn't do to fall all over the street.

"Oi! Fly for brains!" Aoko called out to him, and he blinked at her. "Are you going to stand there all day?"

Oh.

Train station.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," He smiled charmingly at Ran, who blushed and grinned at him. She was even more surprised when he magically conjured a yellow rose into her hand, which she took with great awe and admiration.

Shinichi looked only passingly amused.

He caught the flat look and smirked. "You want one too?"

"I'll pass." The detective snorted, thinking of another person who had produced a rose so smoothly.

Aoko rolled her eyes. "Kaito thinks he's some kind of magician. Don't pay any attention to him, Ran-chan."

" It was a cute trick." The high schooler admitted, blushing as she fingered the rose curiously.

They waved goodbye—an affair that wasn't anything special. Ran was laughing easily, exchanging numbers with Nakamori so the two could make plans to meet up, or whatever girls did (Shinichi was aware that, no doubt, he'd be dragged along to whatever meeting they were planning) Kaito was looking rather surprised, and almost smug. Shinichi wanted to pinpoint what, exactly, stirred within him when looking at the boy but he couldn't really get much when his stomach churned and his countenance wavered.

The boy waved, and Shinichi felt something _pull _at that smile.

He wondered what it was.


	4. keep your heart in the clouds

Shinichi was beginning to feel an intense sensation of déjà vu, as he found himself in the same position as last week.

Solving an impossibly easy murder case.

How the police could be so slow as to not find it out on there own was beyond him, but he supposed he should have expected as much as KID could get away with an hour or so of staying on the same rooftop, possibly being more vocal than he had ever been in ay of his heists, and to top it off, no one ever seemed to question why Shinichi was always at the place of Kaito's escape.

Either way, the night found him tired and drawn out, rummaging in his pockets for enough change to buy something in one of the dimly lit marts that he was walking past on his way back home.

He was just passing a long stretch of stores closed in metal sheets, when he spied a flickering light from a helpless, dying florescent light inside an open store on the corner. The windows were murky from disuse and dust rubbed around the edges, but he could see the inside where delicious food lined the shelves, and decided he could stomach shady store clerks in the face of ramen noodles.

The cloaked figure in the front, however, shimmering like burning dust against the stoop of the store.

For a moment he wavered in his steps, the sinking feeling in his feet like he's meeting another creature for the first time, ethereal and inhuman, and he pauses, hands in his pockets, eying the masked plume of smoke emitting from the figure warily.

"Why, hello there young sir." It greets, as he places his hand on the door and bypasses it on the way to the interior. He wants to say she but there's no empirical evidence to this fact so he goes with, 'it'. It—possibly of zombie origins. He blinks rapidly, backing away.

He doesn't bother with the unnatural looking creature, and instead, is severely relieved by the tinkling woman's voice of a popular pop song, the rustling of a tired clerk behind the counter, and the smell of old cleaning products.

He buys what he needs, and is prepared to steel himself for another vocal input from the possible zombie on the corner, but is surprised to see another figure entirely.

A young girl sits in the spot with demonic eyes and a pleasant face, a crystal ball on the stand between her legs.

"Care for a fortune?" She smiles, and the glassy obscured lilting of her voice masks the imitation of quirking lips.

He shakes his head.

"No thanks."

The bag is slung over one shoulder where he holds it with his hand, brushing against the lining of his hood and the ends of his hair, other hand in his pocket. He can't shake off the intense déjà vu at her surprisingly beautiful face, her crooning voice, and for some reason his mind immediately spins with the bright images of a vulture, a turtle, and a tiger, a young boy with a sword and a mastermind thief. They fade before he can catch them.

He's gotten four steps in front of her, and the woman is pursing her lips, not in confusion, but in another emotion entirely—

"What about for your child?"

He stills, losing his countenance completely as his eyes widen and a knot works its way into his stomach, breath caught in his throat and heart lurching.

His eyes narrow immediately in suspicion. "How did you—

But the figure is gone, as she had never been there in the first place.

Fifteen weeks.

Something was going to give.

Shinichi had taken Ai's words to heart, and had considerably lessened his workload, much to Megure-keibu's chagrin and Mouri's immense pleasure. The more Shinichi tried to come to terms with this, this, _unexpected problem_, the more it worried him. He slept for prolonged periods of time, once even, he had hit the full twelve hours of sleep. School wasn't challenging in the slightest, but the act of getting up at that ungodly hour, sitting amidst the immaturity of his own age, and the piles of homework were relentless.

There had been a Kaito KID heist the Saturday after he and Ran had went for noodles.

Predictably, the night found the two of them sprawled under the milky way, exhausted and satiated, talking on the most inconsequential subjects.

Shinichi had found that the legendary thief was quite the stargazer, pointing out constellations as he tucked Shinichi's head under his chin, that beguiling voice explaining the magnificence of the spinning kaleidoscope of dust. The detective found that KID could romanticize everything, his favorite constellation was Cassiopeia, and he had a penchant for trouble (Shinichi could have guessed that last one). He noticed that he enjoyed the thief's company—even when they weren't totally boning on any available surface— that sitting there and blinking up at an endless sea of lights was almost mesmerizing.

KID was really someone important to him, Shinichi realized with no small amount of irritation.

He was annoying, sure. His stupid antics and his arrogance angered Shinichi to no end, and yet somehow, every heist without fail, he tousled that soft hair and found himself squinting into the night, trying to find some sort of defining feature.

While his relationship with the thief was growing, surely, he didn't know if he was willing to jeopardize it with the truth.

"Ugh…"

The detective rolled out of bed.

The house was eerily silent, the echoing and death-like quiet brought him even more conviction in his decision.

He'd been having fucked up dreams. No surprise there, he was in the business of inspecting dead bodies and interviewing psychotic people. Nightmares, he supposed they were called, had ceased to bother him, as the moment he opened his eyes they melted with the bright morning sun. His nightmares recently, however, had been settling around the thing growing inside his stomach (he couldn't quite yet call it a baby, but he had considered calling it other things, like, "it", "thing," and "legume", also "zombie baby", but only because it had come from unnatural origins. He really hoped it wasn't a zombie) and a shifting restlessness he couldn't quite place, the unimaginable silence of the house only furthering the fluttery sensation until he couldn't quite stand it any longer.

He phoned his mother, who, while confused, was completely okay with him moving out of the house.

He'd be inspected the new apartment today.

Shinichi grabbed a hoodie, one on the floor with the rest of his laundry—which was _clean_, thankyouverymuch, just not sorted—and pulled the dark blue fabric over his head, toeing on his trainers at the door and opening into the brisk almost-winter air, breath misting in the early morning sun that bathed him with long strokes of lemon-colored light, turning the edges of his hair gold.

He took the train and checked his phone, which was filled to the brim with concerned messages from people he hadn't realized had his number, a call from Haibara, and an overly worried message from Ran.

The train pulled to the stop before he could finish checking them all.

The complex was almost outside of Beika, only three stops down from his current station. His school was four. It was fairly close to Edoka districting, the detective mused, wondering how Nakamori-keibu was going to fair knowing that Shinichi might end up taking over his jurisdiction. He'd throw a fit, surely.

"Kudo Shinichi, I presume?"

Shinichi startled at the voice, too caught up in his musings to hear it.

His brows furrowed as he fiddled with the lock to the apartment. "Yes…and you are?"

"Koizumi Akako." The girl with orchid-colored hair introduced herself as. He nodded. "You're the one who's looking at this place, right?"

"That's me." He pushed open the door into the empty apartment, the girl followed him in.

Shinichi paused then. "And how did you know my name?" He doubted that the leasing office made that common knowledge.

"Who doesn't?" She quipped back slyly.

He didn't say anything to that _"Touché," _he seethed inwardly, however, only shrugging noncommittally, inspecting the apartment.

It was spacious, that was a plus. A living room with large windows on one side, leading to a balcony. On the opposite side was the kitchen, with enough room for a small table to fit in it, as well as the counter, which overlooked to the living room and seemed as if it could hold four or so stools. He contemplated it, moving into the hallway that split between the kitchen and the living room, where there were three doors. Three-bedroom apartment. Did he need all that space?

"Pretty big for one kid." The plum haired girl mused. "Or…" She ducked her eyes with a smirk. "Are you expecting for more?"

"Huh?" He blinked at the strange girl.

"It's three bedrooms." She pointed out. "I dunno, are you going to have roommates or something?"

"I don't think so."

"You're… eighteen, right?"

That was just a little this side of creepy. "Yeah." He answered cautiously. "And how do you know that?"

"Oh." She smiled cryptically. "The newspapers."

(or his fanclub website)

"Do you live near her, Koizumi-san?"

"Just Akako, please." She winked at him. He found it kind of uncomfortable how easily she invaded his personal space, smelling like fragrant burning incense and some sort of crazy smell. "And no, not at all."

His brows furrowed. "Then why are you here?"

"I came to see you!" A delightful artificial smile, as if she didn't really know how to.

He stilled. "How did you know I'd be here?"

She hopped onto the counter, and was watching him with mysterious, cat-like eyes that made him blink and take a step back. She looked, he didn't want to say it, but almost—

"My friend Lucifer told me."

—unearthly.

"Uh…"

He almost choked.

Did she honestly think he'd believe that?!

As if sensing his disbelief, she rolled her eye and huffed in exasperation. "You don't have to believe me." Funny, why did he find himself almost doing so? There was that smile again, a movement of sharp teeth that reminded him sorely of some sort of ghost, or witch, or demon or _something_, that cynical look in her eyes and that crooning voice, "…Is that a mark?"

His face flushed entirely and his hand immediately went to the spot on his neck which he thought was covered by he sweatshirt.

She leaned into him, hair brushing against his forearm and nose almost pressing into his neck. He tried to move, but something kept him in place. Maybe it was her creepy eyes.

He gulped when they moved to his neck to him. "Did KID give you that mark?"

"Wha—

She hopped off then, looking amused at the startled surprise in his eyes. "Don't worry," She winked. "Your secret's safe with me!"

Akako winked before she strutted out of the room, hips swaying slightly in the gait of a woman who knew that men worshipped her. Too bad for her, there were two people who would never fall for her charm. Kudo Shinichi happened to be one of them. Said detective was so busy recoiling in shock he didn't bother with her tinkling laughter down the hall, too busy hyperventilating and wondering _whatthefuck _was that girl's problem, and who the hell was she, anyway?

And then he remembered.

The eyes, the laugh like wind chimes.

That freaky lady from yesterday!

-x-

Sixteen weeks, and he had officially reached his breaking point.

A heist letter was sent to his mail, a cryptic message that didn't quite make much sense, but to Shinichi he understood it clearly. KID was calling him out again.

He didn't attend.

Although, judging from the last time he had done so, he doubted that would stop the thief.

If anything, it would just spur Kaito to pursue _him_, instead of whatever jewel or precious item he was after this time.

Shinichi supposed he'd just have to make himself even more untraceable then usual.

He knew just the place.

"You look healthy." Said Haibara as she ushered him in, a surprised look on her usually monotonous face.

He smiled a bit. "I've been sleeping most of my days away."

"And eating, I hope?"

"Yes." He said exasperatedly. "And eating."

She nodded in satisfaction. "So, what brings you here?"

He shifted uneasily a bit, rubbing the back of head sheepishly. "Just…wanted a change of scenery?"

Her skewered gaze made him shrink. "Who are you running away from?"

"No one!" He waved her concerns off, moving into the kitchen where a pot of water and a tray of cookies were on the counter. "Are you cooking?" He changed the subject hastily, grabbing a cookie.

She looked a bit flustered at this. "I just—I didn't want to eat freezer food anymore."

"Alright then." He decided not to be mean, and didn't press the issue. "So since I'm here, do you think I can ask you more questions?"

"Go ahead." She shuffled around behind the island where Shinichi had propped himself on, grabbing a stool so she was tall enough to reach for the stove.

"How long do you think I'll be like this?"

"Define, 'like this'."

"You know," He edged hastily. "Pregnant. Nine months, right?"

She turned around. "Didn't I tell you to stop looking things up online?"

"That's common knowledge!" He protested.

"Well no, you most likely won't be." She turned on the stove and the fire snapped to life like a firecracker. "How many times do I have to tell you? You're not a girl. Your body isn't made to carry _anything_, you probably won't even carry the full term. At the most, I think you'll go around twenty-eight weeks."

His eyes, which had been contemplating the surprisingly bright sprinkles on the cookie—had she really put those on there?—snapped to alarm. "But… that's only seven months!"

"Dangerous, I know."

He hesitated, suddenly overwhelmingly concerned for the thing he hardly thought about. "What's the survival rate?"

Ai turned around fully at that, watching his face. She had always supposed that inwardly, somewhere, Shinichi would be terribly pleased with the information. Hell, she would be. There was no fun in getting pregnant when the odds of doing so are a flat zero percent for any other man in the world, and, for all intent purposes, Ai was surprised that Shinichi hadn't flipped out entirely when she told him. It's not an everyday occurrence, surely. But right now, his face was the opposite of what she had expected, a crestfallen, almost guilt stricken look.

"Seventy to eighty percent." A pause. "A little higher then that, actually."

He bit his lip.

It didn't sound that bad. But he was sure there were more complications for such an early birth. Disabilities, most likely.

"What's the chance of it being healthy?" He supposed was a better way to word the question.

Her eyes softened. "…not very high." She wasn't sure of the exact percentage, but she doubted it was anything he'd want to hear.

Rain pattered softly on the windowpanes, the sky gray and the world blemished with darkness. Shinichi felt this was all somehow this fault. The more rational side of him banished the frail, backwards thought immediately, but a small part of him latched onto it. If he hadn't been _stupid _enough to go headfirst into a relationship which he knew would fail, with a boy he didn't know (and the worst part was, he didn't care that he didn't know) who was, for god's sake, a _thief_, a _wanted criminal._ Wasn't that the opposite of everything he'd ever dreamed for?

He thought that he'd be some ace detective like Sherlock Holmes, straight out of one of his father's mystery books, traveling the world to exotic places and solving mysteries that would bring him critical acclaim internationally, name in the newspapers and face on the television. He didn't want the fame, perhaps the recognition, but he didn't care about the fans or what having his name known would do to him. He wanted to have the reputation of one of the best detectives, that way he'd get the most fascinating of cases.

He supposed that he'd end up getting married eventually. It was a vague thought in the back of his mind, an abstract, ambiguous notion that was simply a minor part of the dream. He always saw himself with Ran, perhaps because she was simply the only girl he knew personally—and even then, if he had to compare her to KID, he knew who would understand him more—or perhaps because he had some romantic inclination towards her.

He certainly didn't now.

And this was certainly not what where he had figured he'd be at eighteen.

(Hah! Teenage pregnancy! He was a statistic now!)

Yet somehow, even though his imagination steered his future self in another direction entirely, he couldn't bring himself to be upset with where he was now.

There was nothing glamorous about his position.

He was going to have—he gulped then, swallowing the lump that formed every time he thought of it—a child, who would have an already low survival rate, which was good for him, because that would mean he could move on with his life and forget about everything that's happened and forget about Kaito and his smile and his voice like the melody of a piano and his hands when they wrapped around his own and—

Water broiled behind the fog of his brain. Ai yelped and hastily moved to turn off the stove, chopped vegetables dropped into the boiling water, his hands shook as his eyes trained sightlessly in front of him breaking the cookie into bits.

And he shouldn't find himself thinking like this.

Thinking about how _god damn smart _this kid was going to be because Kaito was hellishly ingenious and he was famous for his intelligence.

Wondering if it would look like him, or look like the thief—would it smile the same way Shinichi did? Would its eyes be as blue as Kaito's?—if it would want to be a detective, or would he have to drag them back to the store to put back all the stuff they had stolen when he wasn't looking?

Shinichi choked.

He wanted this, dammit.

He wanted the dream.

And didn't that suck?

-x-

Rain was thundering down, spitting out in torrents and washing the world away in sorrow.

Kaito had one hand on his chin, eyes tracing the dark edges of clouds that rumbled on the horizon, tempestuous and puissant. He was unconcerned for the havoc he was wreaking around the class room, as various color's replaced the normal shades of hair, and his latest trick which required almost forty yards of fishing line and amounted to all the desks in the classroom looking as if they were floating. While he was proud of this, he didn't feel the satisfaction he usually did at a trick well done. In fact, he didn't feel _anything_, tracing raindrops with one hand as they slid down the glass.

It had been raining for a while now.

Aoko was screaming like she was part-banshee when she saw her hair, which was now an accommodating shade of silver, as the rest of the class hollered at the commotion.

Akako was the only one who seemed even vaguely impressed, and was completely normal (he was too scared to pull a prank on her).

"What's with the long face, Mister Thief?"

"Don't call me that!" He hissed at her, eyes darting to see if Saguru was lurking about.

He wasn't.

Kaito sighed.

He knew why he was so depressed. Shinichi hadn't shown up at his last heist. He supposed there was probably a very significant reason for this, but the logic didn't help any. The point was, the detective hadn't been there. And this time, he couldn't hunt him down. The very fact that the detective hadn't attended wasn't what had him so twisted in knots, it was the fact that he had been genuinely upset that he had missed it. He knew the feeling, it had happened to him many a time when perfecting his magic, when his latest trick fell apart, when his heist wasn't as interesting and crowd-pleasing as the last.

Disappointment.

He had been disappointed Shinichi wasn't there. Which meant he was becoming more and more attached to him. Which meant that, if the detective didn't attend the next one, or worse, if the detective were to stop this relationship altogether, his heart would be on the line and he had put it there willingly.

Kaito could have tore his hair out in frustration and his own sheer stupidity.

He was in love with a boy who had _no _idea who he really was!

"Don't cry now, Kaito-kun." Akako teased as she sensed his distressed.

"I'm not going to _cry_." The thief looked mildly affronted. Of course he wouldn't cry. He may, however, wallow in depression for a significant amount of time.

"What's brought this on, anyway?" She hummed, looking oddly pleased with herself. "You've effectively turned the classroom into a mess. Isn't this your dream right here?"

"It's not that," He waved her off. "I'm very proud of my work."

"Then why do you look like someone stole all your fun away?"

"Because." He opened his mouth, before stubbornly closing it, and retuning to gaze out the window. Why would he tell Akako something like this, anyway? The girl gave him the genuine creeps, and it had everything to do with the fact that whenever he attempted to ask her the reason how she knew things, her response was always that the devil himself told her. Which was more then a little fucking bizarre.

"Because of Shinichi?"

He almost fell out of his chair as he leapt back, surprise opening his mouth and hands in the air. "How did you—?!"

He didn't finish the sentence. Knowing the answer.

She smirked. "I saw him a couple days ago."

"Really?" He blinked, before returning to his seat with actual interest. "When? _Where_?"

"At his apartment." She elaborated before pausing. "Well, it's not his apartment yet. But he's thinking of buying it. But I suppose that isn't really the point." She batted her eyelashes at him. "That was quite a mark you left there on his pretty little neck."

"Err—" He flushed at the reminder of their last encounter, which involved a lot of those "marks" on various places on the detective's body. Call him fickle, but he liked knowing that Shinichi would see those the next day, even though he wouldn't see KID.

"What's your point?" He looked away in embarrassment, arms crossed. "If you've come here to embarrass me, you can forget it—

"I didn't come here to embarrass you." She rolled her eyes as she crossed her legs, hopping onto her desk in front of him. "Even though its painfully easy to."

"Hey!"

"Your detective is—" She paused deliberately, as if debating if she _really _wanted to say what she was about to. "Has a lot to tell you." She ended, deciding that she would leave it at that.

Kaito's brows furrowed. "What does that mean?"

But Akako didn't answer him, swooping down in a brush of plum colored hair to pinch his cheeks and squeal, "You look so cute when you're concerned!"

He pried her off. "Get off of me, you witch!"

"Oh?" She pulled back with a mysterious smile. "So you admit it then? That I have actual magic?"

"What you do isn't magic!" He scoffed. "It's the devil's work!"

"That may be true," She admitted. "But that doesn't mean you should take my words lightly. I'm going to do you a _huge _favor, one that I expect you will repay me for."

"No thanks." Kaito interrupted. "I don't want to get cursed by any of your Lucifer mumbo jumbo."

Akako only laughed at that, which was surprising, because Kaito assumed that all witches took insults very keenly. "Listen, today around three o'clock, go to the park in Beika. By the penguin slide."

He gaped. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"Don't question me!" She round kicked him so suddenly he fell to the floor like a floundering fish. He blearily rubbed his jaw where she had gotten a good hit on him, about to retort when she stood over him, looking demonic. "You're lucky I really like you, and this detective boy." She said with fire. "So you're going to do what I said, you got that?"

Kaito really didn't get how she was doing him any favors by threatening him.

"Fine!" He stuck his tongue at her, as she retreated back into the chaos of the room, where students were now attempting to cut the wires with scissors, unaware that by doing so they would trigger his next trap, in which the ceiling boards would come out and unleash a variety of confetti and dinosaur-shaped balloons.

By the time three o'clock rolled around, the rain had turned into sporadic light drizzles, the clouds lessening in darkness to return to a more placated color.

Kaito found the kiddy park with relative ease, wondering what Akako wanted to show him here.

There wasn't anything spectacular. A swing set and a large penguin slide, as well as a sand box which was damp from the recent rain and looked more like a dirt pit taen anything. A fresh dotting of rain coated everything, and he cringed as his new shoes were sufficiently dirtied by the fixture of mud the park had become. He stood there, in his uniform, looking around the deserted park and feeling very much like he'd like to curse Akako to hell and back for making him take the train all the way over here, when he heard the small, tinkling voices of children.

"And then Yaiba is like, 'I won't let you steal the sword, thief-san!' and the thief and him start like, fighting in the dojo and you totally don't expect the sword that the thief is looking for to be the one on Yaiba's back but it is and then he takes it and starts running and everyone is chasing after him and—

"Don't spoil it!" A girl hopped out of the walkway and onto the grass, holding her hands to her ears.

The boy, not the fat one, but the one with a magnitude of freckles stretching over his nose. "I'm not! This was all last chapter, I've got the _new _one right here!"

"Why don't we talk about something else besides manga, Mitsuhiko?" Another girl, this one with a sever expression and short dirty blonde hair interrupted.

"Okay…" Mitsuhiko deflated visibly.

Kaito cocked his head, wondering if this had anything to with what he was supposed to find, or if they were just a bunch of rowdy, annoying kids.

The big one with a hole in his hair (that was a little weird…) and the little brunette with the headband jumped almost immediately onto swings, entering an argument as to who could swing faster and then jump farther. The only problem with this competition happened to be the fact the young girl couldn't seem to reach the ground with her feet, and didn't have the strength to push herself with only her arms. The other two, the blond with the contrary face and the boy with freckles joined them, and the little girl started to flounder.

"Not fair guys!" She protested as they started to gain more air.

As if by some stroke of luck, she caught him out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, mister! Do you think you could give me a push?"

"No fair Ayumi!" Mitsuhiko yelped. "You can't get help!"

"I can do what I want!" She retorted childishly, and beckoned him to come. He did so reluctantly, scorning Akako to hell and back as he did so.

He gave her a light push, her legs dangling and flitting back and forth in excitement. "Is this good?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Higher!"

He did so, until she was up there flying with the rest of her friends, giggling uncontrollably, as she raised her hands into the sky, as if waiting to catch a cloud or two.

"Hey—hold on!" He squawked when he realized what she was doing. "You don't want to fall now, do you?"

"I won't fall!" She sang into the blue sky, although really, she looked like she'd slip right out of the seat. "Faster mister!"

Eventually, she and her friends grew tired of the swings, and he carefully lowered the speed until her little legs dangled a couple inches off of the ground and she was able to hoist herself out and jump onto the ground. She immediately regretted it when she spied the two boys leaping into the air at top speed, tumbling into the grass with laughter. The other girl didn't appear to have swung at all.

"No fair." She sniffed. "I wanted to jump too!"

He didn't say anything to that, only sighing. Why was he here, again?

"Hey guys!" Said Mitsuhiko after he jogged back up to the swing set. "Why don't we play team tag?"

The big guy—Genta—protested. "But we'd only have to two teams, Mistuhiko!"

"So?" The freckled boy looked mildly affronted. "That doesn't matter."

"But we always play with three teams!" Ayumi retorted, arms folded.

"Well, we can't anymore!" Said Mitsuhiko with anger. "So deal with it!"

She stuck her tongue out. "No!"

"This is a juvenile debate." The quiet blonde interrupted severely. "The point is, we have even numbers now. Two and two. Why don't we just play normal tag without teams?"

Reluctantly, the other children followed her.

"It's not fair." Ayumi was saying. "If _Conan-kun _was here, we'd be able to play team tag…"

"But that wasn't fair to him." Genta commented. "Because he was always by himself."

"It hardly mattered." Mitsuhiko snorted, hands clasped behind his back. "He could outrun all of us anyway."

"Hold on," Kaito interrupted, and the four of them stilled at the sound of his voice. He felt his hurt lurch at his chest at the foreign name. What were the chances…? "Conan? Who's that?"

Ayumi puffed her cheeks, which were flushed. "Conan Edogawa! He's the leader of the Shounen Tantei!"

"Yeah," Mitsuhiko pointed to the four of them. "_We're _the Shounen Tantei!"

"Were." The blonde corrected.

Ayumi sniffled. "Don't say that Ai-chan! Conan will come back!"

Somehow, somehow he had found the missing piece to the puzzle. Some stroke of luck (or Akako's friend Lucifer) had lead him straight to the answer he had always been seeking. What had happened to Conan, his Tantei-kun, his rival? It was a question which festered in the back of his mind, the answer seemed to come to fruition in this moment.

"Where did he go?" He asked hastily.

Ayumi shook her head. "We don't… we don't know. He called one day and said he was going…" Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes watered. "That he was going home!" Her hands flew to her eyes, covering her face as she sniffled.

Kaito felt horrible for bringing the subject which was obviously fresh and painful to them, but he had to know.

"Conan-kun… was he smart?"

Mistuhiko nodded. "The smartest guy ever! He could solve any mystery in the world!"

"Yeah, and he was really good at math!" Genta added. "He always did my homework."

Kaito frowned thoughtfully.

These kids obviously knew Conan, and while they knew that he went 'home' were no more aware of where the young and ferociously smart detective went then he was—which is to say, a nonexistent understanding. He had utterly no idea what happened to his Tantei-kun. Apparently, neither did they.

He sighed, again, Tantei-kun had outsmarted him…

"Did he ever talk about KID?"

"The thief?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Ayumi paused, and "Ai-chan" looked at him sharply. "Sometimes." She admitted. "They were like rivals, right?"

"No, that Kudo Shinichi guy is Kaito KID's rival." Genta pointed out.

Kaito flushed.

"It's all over the news." Mitsuhiko added.

Ayumi shook her head. "That's not true! Conan used to run into him all the time! He told us, remember? Conan is a thousand times smarter than that stupid Kudo Shinichi! If anyone could catch Kaito KID, it would be Conan!"

Kaito found this entirely true, but didn't say it aloud. Except for Shinichi being stupid. That was comically untrue.

"So he's gone, huh?"

Mitsuhiko nodded sullenly. "One day he just… up and left. It was like… four months ago. He didn't go to school, and we all went over to Ran-neechan's house—

"Ran-neechan?" Kaito echoed.

"Yeah." Mitsuhiko nodded. "That's where he lived. With Ran-neechan and her dad who sleeps a lot and smokes a lot. He lived there cause his parents live in America. We went there but Ran-neechan said he hadn't been home, either. We thought he got kidnapped or something! But then he called us and said he went back home with his parents." At the end of his story, the freckled boy looked terribly crestfallen.

"That's okay though!" Genta smiled. "Conan should be with his parents."

Mitsuhiko nodded. "Yeah, and I'm sure he'll visit us some!"

"Is that so?" He scratched his head. "Ah, well, thanks for helping me out."

Ayumi furrowed her brows. "But we didn't do anything…"

Kaito didn't notice the quietest of the bunch, the small girl with short, wild dirty blonde hair and wide, scrutinizing eyes the entire time. Her gaze, while a couple heads shorter then his, was no less petrifying and demanding. This boy asked very curious questions, mainly pertaining to his immediate interest in Conan and, not only that, but of his and KID's relationship (something which no one but Conan and the people he's told would know about). It was even more perplexing that he'd know Conan in general. He obviously did, judging from his reaction. What she didn't understand, however, is why he'd ask about KID and Conan. The fact that he would ask Conan's friends meant that—

Haibara gasped in surprise.

The sudden loud intake of breath drew her the attention of the entire party.

"I forgot my sweater!" She yelped in surprise.

Genta cocked his head. "But you didn't have a—

"I must have left it back at the park bench near the ice cream parlor!" She immediately turned to Kaito. "Mister, would you bring me back there?"

"Eh?" Kaito frowned. "Why me?"

"Because I could get kidnapped or something if I went by myself!" Ai looked insulted that he'd even think of letting her walk alone.

Kaito sighed. "Alright fine, squirt. Where is it?"

She grabbed his hand with her small ones, the epitome of cherubic and adorable, guiding him down the path, farther from the watching Detective Boys. "We'll be back really soon!" She called to them, tugging him with more force then necessary.

"Hey—slow down!" Kaito protested as she near dragged him along, even though she was many feet shorter then him.

They rounded a bend of trees, and she dropped his hand to walk some paces in front of him. Kaito was a bit surprised by the girl's sudden interest in him—she looked like she wanted nothing to do with him before—and rubbed his arm gingerly. Damn, that girl had muscle!

The trees were burned orange and claret red, yellowed in some places as they bent around them like a tunnel of autumn colors. He scuffed a pile as he walked past, the leaves taking flight in the chilly air, which was accented by the drawn out clouds above them that looked as if they would be spitting another round of rain at any moment. As the girl walked, or skipped really, in front of him, he wondered what Akako wanted him to gain from meeting them. Closure with Conan? It seemed like it. She said he'd thank her, though, and quite honestly, that was nothing to thank her about. He'd have moved on eventually. While he liked and admired the young boy, and his disappearance was both disappointing and upsetting, he'd have to get over it at some point.

"So, you know Conan?"

He was pulled out of his musings by the question, which seemed a lot more like a statement.

Kaito was immediately surprised, but schooled his features accordingly. "What—ah, no, I've never met him. I'm sorry about the whole thing, though. It seems like you guys really miss him. He must've been a really good kid."

"Don't bullshit me, boy." She turned around, stopping abruptly to level him with a cold stare.

He was taken aback, and, mouth open, didn't know what to say to that.

"You do know Conan." Her eyes narrowed and her lips turned into a sneer. "You're Kaito KID."

Not a question, this time, but a cold, hard fact.

He was immediately on guard. "How did you know?"

"You gave yourself away asking so many useless questions." She scoffed, folding her arms. Around them, the wind picked up and leaves scattered across their unmoving feet. He hadn't realized this had turned into a standstill until that moment, the girl leveling him with her unnaturally piercing gaze—how old was she again, like ten? Girl's this young shouldn't have terrifying eyes like that—arms folded, and somehow she was looking over her nose at him even though she was half his size, head tilted back as if analyzing him with disdain. "Asking about where Conan went, and, the real kicker, his relationship with KID. Or you, technically."

She was smart. Smart and fucking intimidating.

Great.

"Who are you, really?" She narrowed her eyes.

"You said it yourself," He shrugged with a sigh. "I'm KID."

"I meant your name."

Kaito blinked cautiously. Should he? "My name's Kaito."

"_Really_." She deadpanned. "Like I couldn't have guessed that. What's your full name?"

"Kuroba Kaito."

"Like the magician?" She tilted her head.

He nodded. "Yup."

"What are your intentions with Shinichi?"

"Wha—

"You guys have a relationship, don't you?"

How did this little girl know so much?!

"How do you know about that?" He blurted out before he could stop himself. It was one thing for her to know that he knew Conan. He could admit privately to himself that he wasn't being very sneaky about that. But hey, he was in the presence of little kids who really should have brains the size of peanuts. He hadn't expected the crack-fire whip and mental opposition she was giving him (much like Conan, now that he thought about it)

She looked as if he was a slow, dimwitted child, and she was trying to teach him patiently to no avail. It was an odd look, considering her youthful face and short height.

"It's simple." She began slowly. "He told me."

(that wasn't very simple.)

"And how do you know Shinichi?" He asked with more then a little confusion.

She sighed. "I've known him for a long time." She glanced at him, once. An undecipherable expression. "When he was Conan."

Kaito's eyes widened.

"…What do you mean by that?" His voice was deceptively calm and deliberate, considering the maelstrom of emotions which took him by storm.

"Kudo Shinichi is Conan Edogawa." She elaborated. "Shinichi was unknowingly caught up in an organization I think you're well aware of—Black Organization. They were using a prototype then called the APTX 4869, a drug which can cause apoptosis, which deconstructs cells to leave an untraceable murder. However, in very rare cases, the poison only contracts to non-neural cells which results in an apparent decrease in age." She took a breath, watching him reel in silence. "As a result, he was turned into Conan. Obviously, he found the antidote, and was reverted back into Shinichi," And with a wicked smirk, she added. "Who I'm sure you're very well acquainted with."

Eventually, the young high schooler was able to gather his wits against the sheer vertigo and connection of relative events, the last stroke of a painting which encompassed the entire scene, the missing piece—what he had been searching for. It was closure, and it was a beginning.

He really would have to thank Akako.

"So when Conan disappeared, he really turned back into Shinichi." Which would certainly explain the coincidental dates of Conan's disappearance to the arrival of the detective.

Ai nodded.

He turned to the young girl. "And how do you know all of this?"

"My name is Shiho Miyano." She paused. "Or at least it was." The blonde amended bitterly. "I was the original creator of the APTX 4869. When the Organization began to use my drug for murder, I opposed it openly. They imprisoned me, intending to kill me as well, and I took the drug as a suicide method."

She pointed to herself wryly. "It obviously didn't work."

"So turning smaller is a… side effect?" The thief tilted his head.

Ai nodded. "It's a very rare symptom. Shinichi was infinitely lucky that he was part of the .01 percent rate. He should be thankful it was only a prototype."

Kaito was infinitely thankful, too.

"But I don't understand," He started, after a moment of silence. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're important to him," She said drily, as if was the most useless fact in the world.

And Kaito would be lying if that wasn't the best thing he'd heard all day.

But he could clearly remember the raw hurt from that silent night, hands on the railing, eyes in the sky, dreaming of Shinichi and worry in his throat. "I wouldn't be so sure." He sighed. He could remember the look of desperation in their last moments. Kaito thought it had been the trick of the light, but there was genuine distress in those blue eyes, aguish and concern, and a flickering of _hope_, hope directed at _him_, which he really didn't understand.

Haibara's eye flickered towards him. "Shinichi has had… a lot on his mind lately." She walked over to him, grabbing his hand with one of her frail, small ones. "Give him time. He cares deeply for you, I can tell."

As she lead him along the path, Kaito was thinking that he could get to like this little girl, even though she scared the shit out of him.

"For the life of me, I don't understand _why _though."

Maybe not.


	5. Just waiting for proof that there's

-x-

Aoko was screaming and the day hadn't even started. Akako was smirking viciously and Hakuba was glaring at him from the far wall, but none of which he paid attention to. Normally Kaito would be rubbing his hands vindictively and waiting anxiously for his latest prank, one which involved a hell of a lot of dye and smoke that changed hair colors (his latest invention, which he was quite proud of)

But here he was, frozen in shock, arms limp at his sides.

Aoko screeched as she leapt off of the vent that he had placed right beneath her desk.

Hakuba flushed when he accidentally glimpsed at her panties.

Anarchy ruled as his prank took its full swing.

The room erupted into chaos around him, girls squeaking and boys yelping out, hair erupting into outrageous colors and outfits switching with the creative use of mirrors. Akako standing there amidst it all like the eye of the storm, untouched but centered around everything.

But Kaito didn't care about her, or his prank, or anything else.

Instead, he cursed.

Because a certain detective beneath him, looking up at him with bright eyes like diamonds, smiling softly and hair tousled and basking in the afterglow, shirt pried open and chest heaving slightly—

"Fuck." He said it aloud this time.

Akako had her face in her hands as she leaned over his desk, looking curious as if she didn't know what was on his mind at all.

He was in love.

-x-(18)

Frigid air, and Nakamori-keibu's voice so loud it reached hell and back. A handful of officers, skittish, holding their guns close. A jewel in the center, tiny, but bright enough to light the entire room. The top of the museum was made entirely of glass, the only way off of the roof was by the trap door exactly beneath Nakamori's feet.

Shinichi coughed into his arm, burrowing his hands into his fluffy jacket. Ai made him go shopping again. He most certainly would have complained, if not for the fact that he needed more jackets. He didn't have a bump yet—Ai said he most likely wouldn't have one at all—but the retaliation was that his stomach hurt all the time, and tingled every time it was touched. A certain thief had took keen notice of this, and had ruthlessly plundered his latest weakness.

He blushed at their last encounter.

Kaito KID had been acting different.

Instead of the usual, impersonal, almost frenzied meeting of lips and bodies on whatever horizontal surface they could find, they ended up on the ground in an almost…intimate manner, Kaito cradling him almost delicately and moving inside him so soft and slow that even now, Shinichi was blushing furiously at the very thought of it.

"_We've got two minutes everyone! Get in your positions! Don't let that damn bandit get in here!"_

Shinichi winced at the loud voice from his ear piece, and gingerly pulled it out.

KID had sent out some elaborate notice to the owner of the museum five days ago, with his usual rhyming riddle and little cartoon version of himself, explaining how he'd magically appear on the roof where it was being kept, getting into the chamber without breaking the glass or using the door.

For the populace, and for the police, the task seemed daunting and they looked to the skies to find Kaito's paraglider.

They wouldn't find it.

Shinichi sneezed.

The genius detective already knew where he was, and it certainly didn't take a genius to figure it out.

The allotted time came to its beginning.

A lapse of white in the distance had the police standing to attention to a skyscraper to the far left, and while everyone was distracted Shinichi felt a slight stirring from behind him as one of the officers moved to the center. The thief even had the gall to cop a feel, before smoke erupted and shouts and Nakamori's ferocious voice booming out orders were added to the mix. Shinichi didn't do anything, just stood there and breathed in the smell. It was the same scent that clung to Kaito's clothing.

The smoke cleared and Kaito KID was standing on top of the jewel's case, bauble in hand.

The police made a move to grab at him, but he leapt out of the way and jumped through the glass, descending in a rain of shards into the dizzying drop below, the police scrambling to the broken opening to peer down. Suddenly, the wind picked the thief up and he came into view once more, handglider opened and already making his getaway.

"_Everyone!" _Nakamori-keibu wrenched the trap door open. _"Hurry! After him!"_

The police dived into the opening in a jumble of bodies, and eventually Shinichi was left alone on the roof top, glass at his feet and the chanting of Kaito's fans in the distance.

"You're not very sneaky, you know." He said aloud, conversationally.

The thief sighed.

Behind him, the shifting of a panel was heard and the thief appeared from his spot behind a sheet made to look like the portrait of sky scrapers and jumbled masses of bodies flying Kaito KID banners.

"You're the only one who thinks that."

Shinichi shrugged. "Maybe I'm just the only one who's smart enough to figure you out."

The thief made a noncommittal noise, walking over to grab the detective from behind, hands clasped around his middle.

Shinichi didn't say anything, staring sightlessly into the dark swirl of stars.

They stayed like that for some time, Shinichi wondering what he was feeling, just standing there in the night, listening to the distant, dismayed cries of KID's fans as his paraglider drifted off, the wail of sirens following it. His stomach was tying itself in knots, an action he would have thought would hurt, but was altogether not unpleasant. Was he nervous? Anxious, even? He had always been nothing but excited for KID's heists, the thrill, chasing the thief through his mind games, and eventually ending up in his arms and kissed senseless.

"What are you thinking?" The thief asked eventually, to the boy in his arms.

Shinichi turned around so he was facing the thief, so close their noses almost touched, and he could feel the warmth of Kaito's breath on his cheeks. "I'm not too sure." He said, honestly.

Kaito seemed to take this as an answer, as his hands tightened and he slowly drew the detective up for another kiss. Shinichi met it, almost surprised by the hesitant, slow movement against his lips. The thief was usually rather straight-forward, and dominant. Not faltering and wavering like he was.

Shinichi didn't say anything about it at first, just wrapping his arms around Kaito's neck and hoping that the thief wasn't having second thoughts.

They hadn't been the same lately.

Most times, the thief would just hold him, contemplating, with a distant look to his face—or what Shinichi could see of it, anyhow—as if he was studying himself and turning inwards.

"What are _you _thinking?"

Shinichi turned the question around.

He wasn't prepared for the answer. Crisp air closed in around them, hushed and swelled like the breathless anticipation of a stage with dimmed lights, just before the opening.

"I'm thinking that I love you."

Arms limp, mouth open in surprise, eyes wide like the ocean before sunset, thin fingers falling from dark hair to move to clothed shoulders, unable to find purchase onto anything with the sudden weakness that came upon him.

Kaito took his surprise in an entirely different way.

"Nevermind." He stepped out of the boy's limp hold, moving towards the broken opening in the glass.

Shinichi snapped out of his reverie as the thief neared the edge.

"Wait—" He gasped out, reaching for the thief. "Hold on—"

But the material slipped through his fingers, and he ran to the edge where he looked down, chest heaving, sight meeting nothing but the glimmering of faint street lamps and the sheer vertigo of the drop, Kaito nowhere in sight.

-x- (21)

Weeks rolled by, and heists followed, none of which Shinichi attended.

Kaito's words stayed in the back of his mind, stirring and twisting and always in reach whenever Shinichi closed his eyes, the thief's voice, soft and luring…

"You claim you aren't running away," Haibara began lightly, Shinichi would have called it teasing, but hah, as if Shiho was capable of such a thing. "Yet here you are, yet again."

Shinichi shrugged evasively. "It's a quiet Saturday night." On this side of town. At a certain museum five train stops away…

Ai plopped herself onto the couch next to him, small child hands swiping the remote out of his hands. The channel, which had been a rather soothing Discovery/National Geographic-esque documentary on the various types of whale mating calls, was quickly changed before Shinichi could protest. Ai skewered him with a look as if goading him to rebuke her, and he narrowed his eyes. If he yelled at her to keep the channel, he would be admitting, a) he was fascinated in whale culture (which she would hardly believe) b) he was obviously avoiding something on the TV and c) he was avoiding life in general.

Instead, he turned around and pouted.

Ai switched the channel to the news, where a woman's voice was explaining the latest at the Kaito KID heist.

Shinichi had been invited hesitantly by Ran, as she seemed to have realized the fastest and best way to lure him out with her was to go to a KID heist. They were almost like magic shows, and the more the detective thought about it, the more he realized it was true. He had declined, making up some bullshit or another about copious amounts of homework (as if that had ever stopped him before).

Sonoko, on the other hand, was ready to roll her sleeves up and grapple him into a body bag to get him there. Apparently, she was under the impression—and for once, it was spot on—that if Shinichi was by her side, KID would eventually make an appearance.

Of course, in her head, the scenario was probably more along the lines of using Shinichi as bait to lure the thief in, before snatching him with her talon-like claws and divesting him of his clothing, and then partially molesting him in front of everyone with much public indecency. In reality, the thief would probably end up doing that to _him_, and while Sonoko's horrified face was all kinds of amusing, Ran's face would _not _be.

So here he was.

Hiding.

Again.

"I'm hiding from Sonoko, if you must now." He answered in clipped tones. A half-truth.

Ai laughed. It was almost terrifying to hear. Mainly because he knew it was at his expense. "Who are you trying to fool? Me, or you?"

He grumbled.

She decided to change the subjects. "Are you taking those prenatal medicines I gave you?"

"Yes." The thought of the baby once again made him cringe. It had been seventeen weeks, nearing eighteen, and he was half way to the end and was still at a loss as to how to tell Kaito.

Actually, he knew that soon he'd end up doing it, as much as he dreaded the day.

Not only would Kaito's reaction be entirely up in the air, but the thought that this child had an abysmal survival rate and health percentage made his face scrunch up and knots wring in his stomach. Knowing that everything he ate, everything he did was effecting someone else…

"You're getting worried again."

"I can't help it." He mumbled helplessly. "Every time I think about it I—

"Everything at this point is completely out of your control." Ai, always the voice of reason. "Just relax. Would it help you if I said tightening yourself up like that was bad for your stomach muscles, and therefore squishing your baby?"

"H—Huh!?"

"I'm kidding." Her voice was so flat, it was kind of hard to decipher whether she really was or not.

He frowned. "It was a bad joke." Not to mention illogical. But hey, so was the entire situation. Ai could say his hair would turn blue permanently and he'd be half inclined to believe her.

They lapsed into silence.

Footage of the latest minutes of the KID heist filtered in. A close up of Kaito's face, obscured by his hat and monocle, but the smirk was clearly visible as was the clarity of one bright azure iris, between strands of dark hair whipping in the wind. Shinichi faltered at the melancholic glimmer in the thief's eyes. It was already Eleven thirty, the time which he had claimed he would steal the jewel. But there he was, on the rooftop…not going anywhere.

Shinichi gulped.

He had a pretty good hunch as to why.

(and sometimes, he hated how he was always right)

-x- (17)

The following week found Kaito making an elaborate display, creating such a large event that the police had no choice but to air it on every channel, every radio station, every newspaper, until there was no one who _didn't_ know of the infamous Kaito KID's next plan. After careful decoding, the police were able to decipher that the thief would be striking on the full moon that was sent for that Wednesday, striking at the illustrious and luxurious "Prestige" a whopping jewel the size of a fist.

Kaito had no intentions with the jewel.

He had every intention with Kudo Shinichi.

Not that he wasn't going to make a grand display for the stealing of the gem.

He had an elaborate scheme, one that had taken careful consideration and one he really didn't care for at all. It would entertain the crowd, as he ascended into the sky in front of the building, looking like he was flying by a crafty use of fishing line and the pulley system. While he could admit that it wasn't nearly as ingenious as the time he had pretended to walk on thin air (but he had only made that one so crazy because he knew his little minx would be watching) his main point wasn't for a show.

He had made such a large deal out of this recent heist because he wanted to know_, for sure_, that the detective would attend.

And he wasn't disappointed.

Shinichi had no doubt already figured out his scheme, and had arrived at the only plausible building of Kaito's escape.

Which was the very same building the diamond was housed in.

The Miraki Complex was a trio of buildings in the center of a large lake. Or so the public knew. In reality it was four buildings connected underground. Seeing as though the main tower was the scene of the crime, the police would overlook the whole complex entirely, and begin their search in the other buildings around the complex (Kaito had been favoring the left recently, and so no doubt they would search there first).

The fourth building, which hovered right outside the plot and was suspiciously close to domestic zoning, was coincidentally close to the apartment that Shinichi was now, officially, renting.

It also happened to have a very beautiful garden rooftop.

"Figures…"

Shinichi mused to himself, almost a bit warmed by the fact that Kaito had picked this out specifically for him.

The garden was composed of pastel colored hydrangeas, which lined the building's edge in swaths of incarnadine and periwinkle. Shinichi wondered if the thief had set up the table himself, or if it had simply already been a part of the display. Also, where he managed to find the flowers in the dead of winter.

The water fountain was a nice touch, though.

The winter had certainly taken its luxurious time crawling up on them, and Shinichi buried his frosted hands into his sweatshirt, zipping it up to his neck. He wished he had worn more then just the jeans—he hadn't realized the hole in the knee until his left leg went suspiciously cold—and the t-shirt, neither of which doing anything for the crystallizing night air. Shinichi had been waiting impatiently for the first snow, an event which he always looked forward to. It hadn't happened yet, but he supposed it was a rather late winter.

The birds hadn't flown south yet.

Which explained the chirping and twittering from the telephone lines crisscrossing between buildings.

The detective had been waiting for some time now.

It wasn't like the thief to keep him waiting for such a long time—two hours—but he supposed he must have gotten caught up. The police were especially vindictive tonight (today, technically). Three in the morning was a particularly strange time for the thief to start a heist.

Usually he made them around early night, the latest being twelve to one, because his audience was more likely to draw to its fullest at those times.

Judging from the size of his crowd today, the backwards hour hadn't stopped them.

Shinichi inspected the flowers on the table—the building was set up so that the entrance to the roof was on one side, the fountain in the middle, and the table at the far corner with the beautiful view of flickering city lights in the distance—touching the underside of one of the white and red roses with his finger.

He had just gotten around to wondering how they could be a mixture of red and white, when he heard the shifting of cloth over the tinkling water.

He stood upright and faced the thief, who was silent against the door.

"It's a breathtaking view."

"Isn't it?" Shinichi turned his head to see the bright lights of the city like stars that could be caught in his hands.

"I wasn't talking about the buildings."

"Oh." And then. _"Oh_."

He blushed, but there was an exasperated and endearing look on his face. He was used to the thief's moronic flirting by now.

The thief was dashingly handsome tonight. He always was, but for some reason, that thought didn't send both hot molten down his blood and a sense of nervousness. Instead, there was a calming serenity which grew root and planted inside him.

"Were you waiting long?"

Shinichi shook his head, a slight smile playing on the sides of his face. "Not particularly."

The detective eyed the skyline, where the moon faded into the distant lines of the Tokyo horizon, composed of jutting skyscrapers and edges of light from windows.

On the opposite side, the world was seared with color, as the sun made its way up.

Kaito Kid had never made a heist which lasted into the morning.

Shinichi was fairly sure he knew why, as the sun would brush away the darkness which he used to cover his face.

"You should get going." The detective said softly, into the cool morning air which crisped against his fingers.

The thief made no move to do so.

Five thirty.

Shinichi's eyes met his, a brief connection between two alternate skies, before he turned them away, unable to look at the sincere, brimming honesty in them. _(I'm thinking that I love you)_

He didn't know what to think anymore.

Just…. didn't know.

"What do you want?" He demanded, voice reticent and level.

KID looked mildly confused. "Nothing, meitantei-kun. The note I sent, if you look closely, I even said that I wasn't going to steal—

"That's now what I meant." His voice was fixed and accusing. His hands clenched the edges of the table, the glassy surface shaking with the impact. He looked away, voice almost inaudible. "What do you want with _me_?"

He had obviously struck some sort of chord, as the thief stood rigid.

Shinichi didn't bother with eye contact.

He couldn't stomach it, anyway.

Sirens in the distance, twisting hands of aubergine as the sun erupted from behind the cloaked thief, a dim benign presence which lined the boy in gold, lengthened shadows like dark strokes of watercolor against their feet, tousled hair in his eyes, squinting to make out the features of the thief he had been dreaming of, anything more then the line of his jaw and the stratosphere in his eyes, the pleasant curve of his lips as he smiled, Shinichi didn't know what he wanted, because of course, like everything else in his life he always knew the _truth_, the truth which hurt an the truth which he would forever lie to himself then have to face—

"Everything."

That he wanted Kaito, too.

That he could fall in love with someone he didn't even know.

Could fall in love with a laugh in the dark, the bright of his eyes that glowed as bright as stars, hands in his hair and the small of his back, lips on his stomach and that playful kiss on his nose when the thief meant to anger him, but had long ceased to. He didn't know anything about the other man, his face, his name, but he knew him in an entirely different way which required no boundaries.

"Don't say that." He spat out, not meaning to sound menacing, and ended up somewhere between exasperated and unsure. "You don't even know me."

"Don't have to." Retorted the thief, voice light.

Shinichi found himself vexed by the boy's light, airy tone, as if he didn't have the same doubts and insecurities, as if _none _of it mattered the way it did to him—

The sky burned behind them, the moon a sliver on the other side of the horizon, achromatized by the searing color that lined building tops.

"What happened to Conan?"

Blue eyes widened, landing on the face which was being gradually brightened by swaths of light. "What do you—

"Isn't it funny that the day he left, was the day I met you?" There was a thoughtful tone to his voice, as if he found it more interesting then humorous.

Shinichi searched his eyes, which were, for once, completely open to his interpretation. Truthful, genuine. He wasn't playing games.

"How did you find out?" He wondered, eventually.

"You're friend Shiho."

"Ai-chan?" A puzzled, startled look on the detective's face.

Ai-chan? Oh…that other girl had called her something like that.

"And why did she tell you?"

Kaito shrugged. "She said you genuinely cared for me." Or something like that. "I guess she wanted me to know."

"That's not really her place to say." The detective grumbled under his breath, but didn't seem particularly angry about it.

Kaito sighed.

"We haven't really been very upfront with each other, have we?"

Shinichi bit his lip. "You keep your secrets, I keep mine."

The problem with that sentence—which had been fine months prior; in fact, Kaito relished the thought, the fact that he could be Kaito KID, the enigmatic and illustrious thief of the night, important and confident, and still be Kuroba Kaito, the rowdy magician and prankster of Edoka High… he liked knowing that Shinichi only saw one part of him, the part that could pin the boy to the wall and ravish him, not the side that wanted to hold his hand and mumble sweet nothings in his ear—was that he no longer wanted it. He wanted everything to do with Shinichi.

One night wasn't enough anymore.

"I don't want it to be that way." The thief said at last.

And they came to an impasse.

He had laid his cards on the table.

Shinichi reached for the side of the table, which he could scarcely make out in the dim lighting. He couldn't really make out the fountain, either, judging his distance from it by the soft sounds of running water.

"You know," The detective began again, softly. "You didn't have to be so bold with your invitations."

The thief shrugged. "I had to get your attention somehow, didn't I?" He said, cheekily.

Shinichi laughed at that. "You didn't need to do that, though."

He moved closer to the thief, pulling a hand which had been at his sides. He reached into his back pocket to pull out a pen—being a detective, it was almost habit to have one—and tugged off a glove with practiced ease. Even in the dark, he could write, wet ink on skin. Kaito didn't need to have perfect vision to know what Shinichi was writing.

A number.

"You can call me, you know." He teased, popping the cap back onto his pen and slipping it into the pocket. "I know you have my number."

"Sure I do," The thief agreed. "But you've never _given _it to me."

"I didn't think I needed to. You are a thief, you know." Shinichi pointed out. "I figured you'd just take it and use it."

"I'd respect your privacy." The criminal looked affronted.

Shinichi only shook his head.

"So, why'd you call me out here?"

"I wanted to see you." He responded, automatically, reaching for one of the boy's cold hands.

Shinichi watched him play with his fingers, making no move to stop him. "You could have just asked." He huffed. "Instead of pulling off some grand heist. Where's the diamond, anyway?"

He pulled it out of his breast pocket.

Shinichi blinked. He could make out the glimmer in the darkness. "Big."

"And useless." Kaito agreed.

"I thought you said you weren't going to steal anything." Shinichi eyed it warily. "You said it was 'on your invitation'."

"Hehe." He chuckled. "I'm allowed a little leeway, aren't I?"

Shinichi glared at him.

"I can't help it." He protested. "It's big. And shiny."

"Why do you steal them?" Shinichi asked carefully, as he tucked the colossal item in his coat pocket. "Jewels, I mean. You almost always return them."

"I _am _a thief." Kaito said, seriously. "I _do _steal things, and keep them."

"But not gems." Shinichi argued.

"I'm searching for something." Kaito hedged, not wanting to tell the truth, but not wanting to lie And he _had _said he didn't want it to be like this anymore, so secretive and vague. What kind of impression would he be making if he didn't answer the question? He knew all of Shinichi's secrets. Conan's. To think, that his Tantei-kun and his Shinichi were one in the same. If that wasn't fate, he didn't know what was.

"Immortality." Shinichi echoed, from what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Kaito nodded. "Sort of." His hand let go of Shinichi's, when he figured it was warm enough. He ended up pulling the boy closer, one hand in his soft, feathery hair. "It's called the Pandora Jewel. In the light of the full moon, it's supposed to glow red, and reveal a hidden gem inside it."

"A doublet?" Shinichi mumbled against his shoulder.

"Yes. It's supposed to shed tears of immortality during the reign of a certain comet."

Shinichi hummed thoughtfully against his shoulder. "And what do you plan to do when you find this, Pandora Jewel?"

"Destroy it." He answered immediately.

They lapsed into silence. Shinichi thought the whole thing very noble of the thief. Of course, that wasn't to say that the thief was some sort of knight in shining armor. He stole things other than jewels, on days other than the full moon, and he _had _kept an item or two (Shinichi couldn't fault him, though, because he would have kept them too, because they were pretty cool) he was perverted, and could be kind of a jerk—never to Shinichi, but mainly to the police, and his fans—at times.

Eventually, Shinichi pulled away.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked, hesitantly, searching the blue that he could faintly make out in the dim light.

Kaito shrugged. "I wanted to… explain it, I guess. I don't want secrets anymore."

He wondered what was the right way to say this. Kaito had never been good with words, and he certainly had never been one for tact. His relationship with a certain detective stood in testimony of that.

"Listen, Shinichi,"

Said boy tried vainly to squish the flutter of excitement when the thief used his name.

"I don't—I don't want…" Kaito trailed off, trying to find the right words. He didn't want to fuck this up. "I don't want this relationship."

Ah, shit.

"I mean, I do! Just not—In… in a different way!" He backtracked hastily.

Shinichi's expression of surprise hadn't changed (but Kaito couldn't see it in the early morning dark, and was fully prepared for an infuriated and hurt look of contempt).

"I really, really like you, Shinichi." He took a breath, crisp and cold and burning his throat. "And I'm not… happy with this relationship anymore. I want to see you _all_ the time, not just whenever I feel like stealing something. I want… I want…" He struggled. Dammit, why was he so bad at this?

"Yeah?" The detective's breath hitched.

"I want you to be mine, okay? I meant what I said. I want everything about you."

"Could you…" His lashes fluttered, before the full bloom of sky colored eyes took the thief by siege. "Could you say it again?"

"Say what?" Kaito asked nervously, feigning ignorance.

He pulled away for a moment, a shy, coy look on his face. "What you told me… last time."

Kaito flushed. "I—I love you." Shinichi's gaze flickered to his face. There was nothing but sincerity in those blue eyes.

He stepped closer to the boy, enveloping him in warm arms. "I want you to be only mine. "

Shinichi pulled himself into the warm embrace, loving the hot mouth on the tender chords of his neck. There'd be another mark by the morning. Every time one would fade, there was another, just as demanding, just as claiming.

"I already am." Shinichi scoffed, but he was smiling.

He hadn't realized how long they had been standing there, in the oppressive darkness until it was already starting to lift.

The thief had him leaning backwards into the table so suddenly Shinichi had hardly noticed, one hand in the tousled hair, the other grappling at the table, where the thief's hat and monocle had fallen haphazardly. Had he already taken them off? They wrestled for dominance, the detective trying to gain balance as he was pushed back further onto the table. He ended up colliding with the vase of flowers.

The flowers immediately tumbled to the floor, vase shattering and petals carried away in the water.

"Shit." Kaito mumbled in Shinichi's mouth, hands already attempting to work down the buttons of his coat—why were there both buttons _and _a zipper?!

"Fuck the flowers." Shinichi waved him off, pulling him closer until the two fell backwards onto the table.

The two pulled apart and watched each other in the flickering morning light, which had finally begun its initial ascension into the sky.

Kaito was already on him again, mouth relentless against his and tongue working magic, pulling him flush against him and they were really just about to get to the good part when Shinichi pushed him back.

"Kaito—hold on." He was panting breathlessly, looking quite stricken and almost miserable.

Kaito was immediately concerned.

"We can't…" Another breath, and a shaky intake. Kaito had both hands holding protectively to the boy's forearms, hoping he wouldn't fall limp to the ground. "This relationship you want… we can't…" Shinichi took another breath. "There's really something I need to tell you."

"Anything." He responded, hastily, breathlessly.

He had thought that to make this relationship work, he'd be doing all the talking, and he'd have to plead with Shinichi to accept him. He hadn't thought that, perhaps, the boy had other secrets aside from Conan.

Shinichi looked away, hands grasped into the fabric of Kaito's coat and face flushed, brows knit and eyes light and Kaito's concern increased ten fold when he could see the watery sheen in those perfect delphinium eyes, the sun's slight presence brightening them.

"Did Haibara tell you about…the Apotoxin?"

Kaito tilted his head, a fixture of worry, concern, helplessness and the unrelenting need to brush the boy's fears away mounting in his stomach and finding an outlet in rubbing his thumbs on Shinichi's forearms.

"Yeah, why?"

"She probably didn't tell you… one of its side effects, did she?" His eyes drew back to him, and there was a wide, fixation of fear and alarm a dreading of what—Kaito's reaction?

"Just the one about body size." Kaito became increasingly more worried by the second, a feat he wouldn't have thought possible considering how concerned he was now. "What's wrong, Shinichi?"

"I'm—

If _Shinichi _was at a loss for words, there was a desperate problem.

His hand made his way into the inside of his shirt, to the warm, slightly rounded flesh of his stomach. He could hardly consider it a bump, just a very insignificant curve in what used to be the flat lines of his stomach. Reluctantly, he brought Kaito's to do the same. The thief was alarmed at the creased brows of the boy's face and the varying degrees of coldness his hands could be, and altogether worried for how _unpleasant _the sensation must feel for Shinichi when—

His breath left him.

His hands trembled against the warm skin of the detective's stomach.

There was a—a, _movement_. Not like a kick or anything as grand, just a stirring, like a sleeping, breathless—

_Baby. _

A thousand emotions and a millennium's worth of words left him and struck him like a whirling maelstrom that couldn't even possibly be described. The colossal sense of surprise and confusion and impossibilities…

"Pregnant." The boy finished after a moment, but all Kaito could hear was a ringing silence and the movement of flush lips.

His eyes trailed with wonder written in them from their hands entwined on his stomach, to his face, watching the contorted brows and scrunched eyes, as if fearing his reaction.

Kaito didn't know what to say.

He hoped that kissing the other boy senseless would at least convey some of his thoughts, and perhaps relieve the onslaught of emotions that had taken him by storm.

It helped.

Sort of.

They broke away, and Shinichi's eyes fluttered open. "You're not mad…?" He asked, dazedly.

Kaito shook his head vehemently. "Why would I be mad?" His eyes softened. "Of course I'm not mad, this isn't a bad thing… It's just…. Surprising, is all."

Shinichi was looking up at him with wide, open eyes and Kaito didn't know what to say. Again. The detective really had that effect on him.

"You know," The detective began, still in a dazed stupor, hands reaching to draw into tousled, dark hair and trail down the side of the thief's face. "I don't think I ever got your name."

Kaito flushed.

He had completely forgotten about the subject of his identity.

(but really, who could blame him?)

"I'm Kuroba Kaito," He said with a flourish, bowing slightly and producing a bouquet of pristine white roses. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." He handed them to the boy sitting on the table.

Shinichi took them gingerly, sun painting long strokes of light across the building top, and he could finally see the sparkling water of the fountain, and the glassy crystal of the chairs and tables, so bright it left him squinting from hours with nothing but a bright sky of stars and hesitant lights in the distance, the white ceramic of the building top, the white of the spun petals of the roses which were sprinkled lightly with water, which meant that the boy really _hadn't _conjured them from magic but had surreptitiously taken them off the floor, the white of… of…

He looked up from his dazzling bouquet of flowers, to the face that he could finally see.

His eyes flickered to the bright eyes first.

Kaito gulped in nervousness as the detective's smooth fingers traced his jaw, eyes like the sky had been caught and tucked into them, watching him, memorizing him.

He wasn't sure what to think of the detective's deceptively serene face.

Then he smiled.

"Have we met before?" A capricious, dreamy quality to his voice.

Kaito could have laughed if he wasn't so relieved.

"I think so." He grinned back, pulling the boy closer so that his hands could press into the small of his back, a swift movement that had the detective once again lush against him, where he should be.

"Kaito—!" The boy gasped in surprise.

He called him Kaito.

And he _knew_ it was his name.

The thought made him even more giddy.

The protest did nothing as the thief dropped to his knees and pressed an ear to Shinichi's stomach, not moving, eyes closed and hands resting on slim hips, the detective looking both embarrassed and ambivalent at the movement. They didn't need words, sun blooming and making the boy look almost ethereal, burning across his face like Indian summer and brightening the edges of his lips as he wrapped his hands in Kaito's tousled hair, biting his lip and wondering what the other boy's reaction would be.

Eventually he turned his head back to plant a soft kiss to the skin of his abdomen, before drawing himself back up to his feet.

Shinichi smiled softly at the roguish grin on the boy's face. He looked more the ecstatic, glowing, even, pressing his hands into Shinichi's sides as if he really wasn't quite sure he was dreaming.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" He said airily.

Kaito shook his head, that smile still stuck on his face. "Nah, it's a miracle."


	6. sunsets, and silhouette dreams

_Wow. Finally over, huh? Christ could this have possibly taken any longer? Well anyway, last chapter plus epilogue. No M rated scenes. How upsetting, I know. There are a LOT of skips around though, fyi. _

* * *

Miracle or no, it still hurt like a bitch to stand around all night, and the Thursday morning found Shinichi utterly exhausted and clambering into bed.

He had moved most of his stuff out of the dark, dreary place of his memories, and into the new apartment. He supposed he could see the change of scenery as some sort of change within himself, a step forward from his standstill that he had come to ever since he found himself as Kudo Shinichi, a boy he hardly remembered. Again, he found himself missing Conan, his useless problems, his mundane life in hiding.

His hands moved to his stomach unconsciously.

Kaito knew.

He wasn't upset, or disgusted, or any of the other plausible array of emotions that Shinichi had given viable possibility to. He was, dare he say, pleased, even? Accepting?

It hardly mattered.

The detective was more concerned with his sleep.

He skipped school that day.

Kaito wished _he _could have, too.

But no, he had a payment to fulfill. After hastily scrawling a "Kaito woke up sick today, please excuse his absence as he is now feeling better…" note and handing it to attendance, not missing the unimpressed look of the attendance assistant he made his way into his classroom, only to be bombarded by angry students at his prank from days prior. He met Akako's triumphant smirk, and smiled lopsidedly. He really did owe the girl a hell of a lot.

"You knew this whole time?" To say Kaito was surprised would be an understatement.

Akako shrugged. "Something like that, yeah." Her coy face turned almost… venerable? "So, everything worked out then, I take it?"

Kaito nodded happily. "Something like that, yeah."

"Were you surprised?" She tilted her head, hair sliding down her swan neck to fall over her shoulder. She really was gorgeous, in a way that didn't effect Kaito whatsoever. "At what he had to tell you?"

Kaito flushed.

"Hell yeah."

He was kind of… excited about it, too. Sure, the odds were kind of stacked against them. They were both eighteen, both famous (or in his case, infamous) and still going to school. It would be terribly stressful and he _still _didn't know what to tell his mother. But, it wasn't like Shinichi wasn't rich, so money would hardly be an issue. Of course, the fact that they would be struggling through this entirely presented a challenge. But hey, he liked challenges.

Akako giggled.

"It's hard to explain." Kaito scratched his nose, a slight smile on his face. "Can I be scared, and happy at the same time?"

"It's a plausible combination, yes."

"Because that's all I can think of to describe myself." His hands went behind his head, and he leaned back in his chair. "I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

Akako only had a knowing smile.

And it almost immediately turned vindictive. "So, about your payment…"

The following afternoon found Kaito on his knees, Akako making all sorts of sounds of pleasure, as the thief used his hands for good work. Her feet wriggled in his grasp and he had to continue to tell her to cut it out, because god dammit if he had to give her a foot massage she could at least make it easier on him. The witch, however, seemed to be taking intense pleasure with having Kaito at her mercy. And Kaito, inwardly, supposed there were an array of worse punishments that Akako could have given him, like, say, offering up his firstborn child to the devil cult or something messed up like that.

Kaito supposed Akako wasn't really all that bad. If he had to choose anyone to know his secret, aside from the people who already did like Shinichi and Jii-chan, he'd have definitely chosen her. Mainly because, while she was evil on so many levels and loved to torture him, she also had his best interests at heart. As much as he grudgingly didn't want to admit it, he owed her big time for this one. If she hadn't have told him to go to the park, he would have never found about Shinichi's connection to Conan, and had the grand epiphany that hey, he really didn't want this relationship the way it was.

So he came up with all whole plan to get Shinichi to agree to an actual relationship.

And got a little more then he bargained for.

But that was okay.

He tiptoed quietly into the apartment, closing the window effortlessly and soundlessly behind him. The wood creaked underneath his toes.

Kaito looked around the rather spacious place.

He supposed it looked so large because, well, there was nothing _in _it. It was just… space. Shinichi had gotten around to moving most of his belongings in, but furniture wise, he only had the bare minimums. A white couch—heh, who's idea was that? He had no idea how Shinichi would manage to keep it so clean—and a glass coffee table lined with dark wood. A shaggy rug that looked like a big dog. Who decorated his house, anyway? Ran? Because he doubted Shinichi could have made it look so stylish. He took a moment to admire the flatscreen hoisted onto the opposite wall from the couch. Proof that this was the residence of a man (which you couldn't have been able to tell from all the posh furniture)

He walked out of the living room and turned before he wandered straight into the kitchen.

The thief made sure to be as soundless as possible, tiptoeing over to the opened door.

Shinichi was sleeping soundly into the fading afternoon, mouth open in soundless breathing and blankets sprawled haphazardly around him.

How cute!

(If the detective was awake to see Kaito's giggling face, he'd probably have punched it)

Kaito took a moment to admire the scene for a moment or so longer, wiggling his way into the bed.

Shinichi startled at the sudden weight. "What the hell—…" He paused, looking down at the serenity in Kaito's face as he held him by the hips, ear pressed against his stomach, as if listening to something that only he was privy to.

The thief looked up, this curious look to his face. "Sorry." He shook his head, rubbing his hair and grinning sheepishly. "I just… can't get over it…"

Shinichi's eyes softened, and he braced himself on his elbows. "Yeah." He knew how that felt. "Neither can I."

Kaito shifted upwards, smiling. "Surprised to see me?" He sat up then, and kissed the sleepy boy soundly. Said boy made no protest to the movement.

When they pulled away, Shinichi smiled. "It's not everyday some moron attacks me." And then, as the thief pouted, he wondered aloud, "How did you get in, anyway?"

"You doubt my thievery skills?"

"Quite the opposite." Shinichi shook his head. "I just thought I locked all the windows…"

"You did." Kaito agreed. That didn't stop him.

"With bolts."

"Wha—" The thief frowned as the detective started to chuckle. "That's not funny."

Shinichi took the opportunity to yawn, and was completely unaware that he was currently fulfilling one of Kaito's dreams. Waking up with the detective—or in this case, being there when the detective woke up—and hearing that sleepy, dream-slicked voice and cute little yawn. Heh. Kaito could die happy now, he'd seen the usually stone-faced detective looking quite the opposite of his newspaper pictures.

Kaito wondered if he should say something, perhaps put what he was feeling into words.

He decided not to.

Instead, he took his time to slowly rock into the detective, pulling back onto the bed and trapping the other boy underneath him. Not that the detective really minded being there. The kiss was slow and as sleepy as the detective felt, lulling but equally pleasing.

He pulled away eventually, hands rubbing the detective's sides with a slow tenderness.

"What time is it?" The detective asked eventually, almost asleep again with Kaito's careful ministrations.

The thief didn't answer for a moment, too interested in stealing his sanity, mouth nipping at his ear and tracing the shell of it with his tongue, a movement which had the shorter of the two mewling incomprehensibly in bliss.

"Kaito—" He moved around in the other boy's arms, pulling away until that devilish mouth couldn't do more damage to his brain. "Mmmm. Stop that! I've got to get up."

"Really," The thief mumbled between kisses. "How about we stay here for longer?"

Shinichi got up to crawl out of bed, Kaito sitting himself, and, smirking, wrestling the boy back into his lap before he could get very far. He squirmed, but the effort was futile as Kaito had found his ear lobe again and had taken it by his teeth.

"I _can't._" He insisted clearly. There was a room down the hall that was vaguely empty. "I have to go shopping."

"Shopping?" Kaito echoed incredulously, but released him.

Shinichi gave him a flat look. "No… I supply myself with food by enslaving aliens to work in my basement."

"Hey!" Kaito scoffed. "You never know with you. Maybe you have like… crazy maids who do it for you."

Kaito was getting summarily used to that deadpan look on Shinichi's face.

The detective rolled over the bed at that, landing on his feet and wondering if he still had a pair of jeans that _didn't _have rips in them. He found none, and begrudgingly pulled the hem of his sweatpants down his waste—unaware of the audience that had now begun to drool lopsidedly on his bed. Or maybe he was, because, as he was turned away from the thief on his bed, he was smirking as he pulled his jeans up. He grabbed a NC hoodie and pulled a flannel over it, before turning to Kaito.

"Are you just gonna sit there and drool, or are you coming?"

The boy gave a groan as he got up too. "Can't we just… stay in bed all day? Nice and relaxing, getting lots of sleep?"

Ah, that flat look again.

"I doubt we'd do much sleeping."

With that Shinichi turned back into the hallway, Kaito rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he followed the detective. "This is very true…"

Shinichi wrenched open his fridge, revealing its vast emptiness to the thief who had, previously, believed that Shinichi was sort of exaggerating with the whole need for shopping thing. He was proven wrong. Aside from half a bottle of lemonade, the contents of his kitchen seemed to be a stale, half eaten box of wheat things—ugh...—a couple cans of Vienna sasuages, which looked mostly inedible, and a handful of eggs. What he'd do with such a large expanse of salt, however, Kaito had no idea. But it was the only thing he found in the cabinet.

"Christ, what do you eat?" Kaito exclaimed at the end of his search with disbelief. "_Cardboard_? The neighborhood children?"

Shinichi pretended to be aggravated by the loud, obnoxious thief, but he couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "Oh? I didn't mention I had a fiber fetish?"

Kaito did a double take, looking exuberant at the slow-to-bloom head of his wry humor. "It would explain the lack of boxes."

He pulled the detective before he could get out of the house, kissing him soundly on the lips before pulling away to walk in front of him, winking. "I can do fetishes, though. Maybe we could make it kind of kinky?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes as he locked the door.

And he wanted a relationship with this moron... why, exactly?

-x-

There was something entirely surreal about walking into the warmth of the grocery store, Kudo Shinichi at his side, pushing the cart and perusing through his list. A couple people stared dazedly as they walked by, murmuring about the famous detective, who didn't seem interested in them at all. To think, earlier that day they'd been bantering like they'd known each other for years. And just yesterday Shinichi hadn't even seen his face!

Who knew his life could be changed so quickly?

Oh _god. _

He was going to be a father.

The incredible prospect of a lifetime—and here he was, having a sudden meltdown in the middle of aisle seven. It had been hitting him at random intervals all day, and was doing so once more. How was this possible? Should he be worried? Happy that fate had given them this twisted hand? His stomach stirred in a mixture of excitement and terror. He wasn't ready to be anyone's father. How would he ever live up to his own? What would they tell people? Would they tell people at all?

He gave a quick, horror struck glance to Shinichi, who was leaning against the cart and eying the directions for pot stickers. How could he be so calm about this? Why wasn't he having a superior meltdown as well? How could he sit there and look so… normal? To a passerby, they could pass as two kids fresh out of high school rooming together to help pay for rent, buying this weeks' groceries. Maybe they lived in the same college dorm. Maybe they were recluse homosexuals. Maybe they were Kaito KID and the infamous Kudo Shinichi, having a whirwhind romance.

As if sensing his ominous thoughts, Shinichi looked up, giving him a brief, if not worried smile.

Kaito shook his head.

He was never one to freak out over the future.

Why start now?

While the boy eyed the vegetable section, he snuck up behind him, and like some sort of vampire, latched onto his neck. Shinichi gave an audible gasp as Kaito sucked on the spot until the mark was dark enough to be visible.

"W—What?"

Kaito pulled away, looking a bit too smug with himself. "I like you better when you have expressions on your face."

And the other boy tasted so good. It wasn't like Kaito was afraid of a few grocery voyeurs, anyway.

The other boy flushed, looking the other way. His face was heated and he was glaring at the carrot section, and Kaito could almost see the steam hissing from the orange vegetable as they slowly melted at the wrath of Shinichi's embarrassed gaze. Not that Kaito would be bothered by this. He appreciated all emotions on Shinichi's usually unamused face.

Kaito grabbed a few apples—because hey, who didn't like apples?—and turned back to the cart, suddenly finding it suspiciously unguarded by the detective, who had been staring adorable holes in the vegetable aisle a few moments ago. He dropped the apples into the cart, looking around for the brunette.

Maybe he found Ran or something? Or maybe he just wandered off—he seemed like the type to just kind of walk off whenever he found something which caught his eye. But Kaito was too, more so even, so he could understand. Although… Kaito was usually loud about it, and it didn't take very much to find wherever he went.

It didn't take long to find Shinichi, either.

It seemed he had chased out the last of the jumbo sized cheetos, and was now standing, looking lost, on the opposite wall which was full entirely of disturbingly pastel colored baby food.

"How the fuck are we supposed to know what to do?" The detective asked a little breathlessly, a little fearfully.

_Christ, _what the hell was MSG? Why was it good that there was none of this in this disturbingly colorful baby food? No Trans fat? Shinichi didn't know any of this—he hadn't _needed _to know any of this.

He'd never been happier for Kaito then that moment (though the boy had also had a 'what the fuck' moment just a bit ago), as the thief laughed outrageously and just grabbed a whole bunch of shit off the aisle and loaded it into the cart. "I'm sure we'll figure it out." He smiled optimistically, dragging Shinichi along. "Can't be too hard, right?"

That was an understatement.

"I've heard differently." Shinichi intoned ominously.

Kaito shrugged with a silly grin. "Yeah well, I'm a little more concerned over the room. Of course, it's all going to be blue—

Shinichi twitched. "I don't remember deciding on that—

"And I thinking a space theme. I love space. Wouldn't that be cool? We could have like, a death star bed, and a whole bunch of Star Wars posters—

"Out of the question." Shinichi snapped, though inwardly a little touched that Kaito had already 'planned' everything out—regardless of the fact the boy had obviously forgotten to mention any of this to the detective. "And if we're going with movie franchises—it's going to be Harry Potter."

With that, he imperiously maneuvered the cart into the checkout line before Kaito could say otherwise.

The thief sputtered. "What? No! And, for the record, those were _books _first."

_fin._

_._

_._

_You be the anchor that keeps my feet on the ground, _

_I'll be the wings that keep your heart in the clouds,_

_I'm just waiting for proof that there's _

_sunsets, and silhouette dreams_

_._

_._

_epilogue._

_._

"Kudo, Kaori?"

Natsuki Mouri fervently glanced to the seat next to her, suspiciously empty and devoid of life.

There was an unsettling, awkward pause as a couple of the kids in class started to whisper and giggle to themselves, the teacher left shifting her weight in the turbulent silence.

"Kudo, Kaori?" She called again, flatly.

With no further answer, she moved on. "Mouri, Natsuki?"

"Here." The young girl raised her hand.

"Nanabi, Shun?"

Natsuki pursed her lips. This was the second time this week Kaori hadn't made it in for roll call. Not that this wasn't a usual occurrence, or anything. But they had an important test today this morning, and Mouri couldn't believe that Kaori was really so irresponsible to skip—

A brief movement from the window caught her eye.

The brief movement turned into a slow, heated rising of an enormous cat shaped balloon, shadowing the windowed sunlight and casting the entire classroom into an uproar of darkness.

There was an explicit moment of silence as even the teacher stilled at the lunging shadow prowling through the classroom, and then, _"Is that a giant balloon?-!" _

The class erupted into panic, as, surely, did the rest of Edoka High, as an enormous cat shaped balloon floated in the main courtyard. Their classroom windows had been bestowed with what looked like half the nose and the left side of it's whiskers—Natsuki could only assume that the enormous floating plastic must be quite large for only such a small section to be shown from the long panels of their windows.

Nanabi Shun, their class president, was in near hysterics as he attempted to hustle the awe-stricken class into the hallway for 'safety', looking more scared of the giant cat balloon then he'd ever want to let on. His efforts were futile, as the class had already dwindled into varying decibels of shock, the loudest generally coming from the girls.

Almost completely silent, Kudo Kaori slid into the seat next to Natsuki with a twinkling, quirky little smile.

"Hi." She said, among the chaos.

Natsuki grabbed her and hauled ass out into the hallway.

It was cramped with the majority of the classes pressed inside of it, and so stuffy that Natsuki was almost prepared to re-enter the classroom. However, the teacher had blockaded it for safety purposes, as it was too close to windows and they had a gigantic unidentified object floating in the courtyard.

Mouri gave Kudo a sidelong glance. The girl seemed completely uninterested in the morning's surprising turn of events.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" She accused, arms crossed.

"Nothing!" Kaori promised, but her eyes were wide and excited.

Mouri was undeterred. "Why were you so late today, then?"

"It was like five minutes!" Kaori protested, flopping onto the floor and blowing a raspberry. "Anyway, I was out late last night—

"It was a school night!"

"And I didn't get back until like, practically three in the morning. So I missed my alarm." A half shrug. And then another grin. "And, its not like it matters, anyway. I'm sure sensei forgot _all _about attendance."

There was something entirely too suggestive about that tone. Natsuki let it go, however, in favor for another round of questions. "And why were you out so late, anyway?"

Kaori looked shocked. "There was a KID heist last night! Didn't you watch it?"

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Of course not—it was a school night!" She conveniently left out the fact that her grandfather and mother had been up for most of the night watching it on TV, coaxing her into doing the same. She may have watched—but only for a little!

"Don't tell me you were at the heist." Said Natsuki, flatly.

"I wasn't."

"Good. Now tell me the truth."

"It was only because Suzuki-san invited me to come—you know she's chairman of the Kaito KID fanclub still—

"That's so irresponsible!" Natsuki mother-henned, as the class eventually shuffled back in for their morning classes, finally seeming to get back to normalcy after the earlier interruption.

A firetruck had been called to tether the enormous cat balloon, and they were working on deflating it. Kaori looked particularly smug.

"Don't you guys have a game tonight?" Natsuki continued, taking her seat. "You need a good night's sleep!"

"I got three hours!" Kudo leaned back. "And, anyway, it's only against Teitan High. I could whip those kids with my eyes closed."

Natsuki rolled her eyes.

An exaggeration, as always. Though it would be a clear understatement to consider Kaori anything but an excellent soccer player. She'd heard from her mother that Kudo Shinichi, the world famous detective that was local to this area, had also been quite good at the sport. Maybe it was just genetics?

Natsuki gave a forlorn look to the window.

Though she had never heard stories of Shinichi being such a trouble maker….

"Pens out." The teacher began tenebrously, looking pissed from the morning's activities.

Natsuki paled.

Kaori scratched her nose.

"Pop quiz."

-x-

It was entirely unfair for one girl to be so good at so many things, Natsuku thought, watching her best friend fly down the field. Though Kaori had never shown any sort of interest in solving world class mysteries, she was by far one of the most popular girls in the school. She was outgoing, almost to an obnoxious fault, and was expected to go to To-oh on scholarship for soccer. Not to mention that she had, once more, aced their pop quiz earlier that day, and then proceeded to sleep through the rest of her classes.

Kaori was a blur on the field, racing down the opposite side, flanking one of the girls who was dribbling the ball. A quick pass and a well placed kick later, and Kaori had her fourth goal of the game.

Kaori smirked.

Too easy.

The team gave her a round of ecstatic back clapping, some endearing splashes of water and one of them gave her a free piggy back ride. Though none of this compared to seeing her father standing at the sidelines.

"Hi dad!" Kaori rubbed the back of her hair, grinning sheepishly, dirt-smudged, but happy. "Where's Kaito?"

"At home. Still sleeping, I think." The detective gave her a secretive little smile.

"Oh no! He missed my banana kick!" Kaori bemoaned in dismay. "Who knows when I'll get a chance to do it again?" It wasn't like they always got the chance to play crappy teams, or anything.

"Maybe I should feel bad that my old high school is getting crushed." Shinichi mused, though he didn't look particularly upset by this. "What was the score?"

"Five-zip." Said the girl cheerfully, scuffing her cleats in the grass. "They're pretty bad, sorry."

"I suppose I'll just have to deal with it." Shinchi's smile turned regretful. "I'm leaving the country for a couple days."

Kaori's mouth dropped open. "No! For how long?"

"Shouldn't be longer then a week."

She pouted, puffing her cheeks. Shinichi was _always _leaving… She looked at her duffel bag, striped with stickers and dirt, and smelly like it was filled with dirty clothes (which, admittedly, it was). Was there really a time when Shinichi was her age, playing soccer himself and solving local crimes like Hakuba Akira, Edoka High's resident detective? Though, Hakuba was kind of a fake and couldn't solve a _real _crime to save his life, and surely Shinichi was a lot cooler back in the day. Cool, and not _too _famous, like he was now.

"Don't torture Kaito too badly." He went on to say, heading for the car and beckoning her to follow. "I don't want a repeat of last time I came home—I didn't even think we _had _that much toiled paper in the house—

"It was _ingenious_!" She protested.

"And we had to get the entire roof re-shingled. I'd appreciate if the house was in one piece when I return."

"Where're you going, anyway?" She whined, after waving to a couple of her friends.

"Can't tell you just yet." As usual. And then, with exasperation, "You two will get along, right?"

"We always do!" Kaori insisted.

"I mean, in the _right _way."

She struggled into the car, wiggling uncomfortably as the heat inside became unbearable with her sticky jersey. She and Kaito, her dad's boyfriend, got along _just _fine. Kaito was practically her other dad, and him and Shinichi had lived together so long she couldn't even remember a time they hadn't. Though perhaps it was because of their uncanny interpretation that getting along meant pranking each other as much as possible. Kaito always won—but that was only because he had more experience.

"We won't blow up the house, the roof, or physically injure each other." She promised, careful to omit everything that required her latest plan to work.

Shinichi gave her an amused glance as he shifted gears. "Or the cat."

Damn.

"_Or _the cat." Kaori amended with a scowl. How did he _always _know?

"And you'll have dinners together? Make sure he doesn't stay out too late?"

"He _always _stays out too late." Kaori pointed out, rolling her eyes and putting her feet on the dash, which were quickly banished by a stern look from the detective. "And what happens if I have a date or something?"

"I'll skin the boy alive and lock you in my dungeon." He said, straight-faced. They stopped at a light and he gave her a narrowed glare. "And you better not be dating."

She stuck her tongue out.

"Better yet," Shinichi amended, near flooring the gas. "I think I'll just get Kaito to deal with them."

She made a face.

There was a moment of silence, and then, "Hey, dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Why _does _Kaito stay out so late?"

"For his job." Was Shinichi's immediate answer.

"I thought he was a salary man." Kaori accused. After more telling silence, she gaped. "You _said _he was a salary man!"

"He is!" He said quickly. "This is just… more of his hobby."

"You're not curious?" Kaori raised her brows. Highly unlikely. Shinichi _hated _not knowing things. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the detective hadn't already snooped around and found the answer; it was impossible for him to not to.

Fortunately for her father, they'd already pulled into the driveway, and he made quick work of making a beeline towards the door.

Kaori made a face at him, dragging out her soccer bag. She'd find a way to get the truth herself. Sometimes her dad doubted the wonders of the gene pool. It only made sense that if Shinichi was the greatest detective in the world, _some _of that would pass on to her.

She pulled her stuff into the house, a sly smirk on her face as her phone lit up with a message from the Kaito KID fanclub.

"Dad?" She called, but the house was soundless. Had he already left? She frowned. And so soon?

"Dad!"

Still nothing. He must have dropped her off after all. She was contemplating sneaking out and maybe conniving Natsuki to go to tonight's heist with her. How strange… two in one week? Maybe it was becaue it was going to be a full moon tonight. KID always stole jewels on the full moon.

"Helloo?"

"Gah. Kaori. Why are you always so loud?"

Kaori jumped out of her skin, a narrow-eyed, sleep deprived Kaito shuffling down the stairs, looking like he was about to kill her for disturbing his sleep.

"You've been sleeping this whole time?-!" Kaori gaped, and Kaito held his delicate ears. "You missed my soccer game, you know!"

"Where did she get these fucked up genetics… I don't remember ever being so loud…" Kaito mumbled to himself, and then, to his daughter. "I'm sorry about that, you guys win?" Christ. Shinichi and had inevitably been the spawn of this soccer obsession Kaori was spouting.

"Shut out." The young girl smirked, only to guffaw loudly as Kaito reached over to fluff her hair.

"That's my little princess!" He laughed. "How many goals?"

"Four." Kaori threw up four fingers proudly. "And you missed my sick banana kick."

"I'm really sorry." He said, genuinely, moving around her to grab a water from the fridge. He wanted to get a heist in last night before Shinichi left for Timbuktu, or wherever the hell he was going now. And it had been quite the good idea—just like old times… doing it on a rooftop—

"How long were you out last night?" Kaori frowned accusingly. "Dad told me to make sure you're not out too late."

"Err—it… it was for work." Kaito rubbed his hair. "And not too long—

"Then why were you asleep all day?" She harrumphed, crossing her arms. "What are you up to…?"

"And what's this?" Kaito tactfully changed the subject with a wry smirk. "Kaori, girl detective? Don't tell me you're following in your father's footsteps. That'd just be too funny…"

"Of course not!" She said, hotly. "I just think it's suspicious, is all…"

Kaito laughed, making for the stairs once more. "You're just like your father—always sticking your nose in things and snooping around."

"I am not snooping around!" She flustered. "And put a shirt on!" She hollered up the stairs. Just because him and Shinichi were absurdly young didn't mean they got to walk around the house shirtless. _Yuck. _

-x-

"So, what?" Mouri Natsuki pulled her sweater tighter, wondering how it was possible to be so cold in September. "We're just gonna wait for KID here?"

"He'll be here." Kaori insisted.

There was an uneasy silence beneath them, as the crowd gathered in the city center breathlessly awaited the hailed coming of their celebrated thief, Kaito KID. Natsuki didn't really understand the hype about him—it was crazy, all the stunts he pulled—but he'd been doing them for years. How could so many thousands of people show up for them, night after night?

"I want to get back soon…" Natsuki muttered miserably. "I have a lot of homework…"

"This is _so _worth being behind in a little homework!" Kaori exclaimed, kneeling down to careen through her goggles and into the throngs of people. "I wonder if he's dressed as someone in the crowd…"

"Oh! There you two are!" Natsuki and Kaori whirled around, to see Suzuki Sonoko waving at them as she made her way to the rooftop. Though she was well into her thirties, the woman somehow managed to pull off her teetering heels and illustrious pearls. "Aren't you girls darling?" She winked. "I used to come to heists all the time when I was your age, too."

Ran, Natsuki's mom, always told it differently, saying that they had been around eighteen when the heists really started to roll around, though there was no arguing with Sonoko.

"Oh, where are my manners? This is a good friend of mine, Giselle Carmen." Sonoko waved to the gorgeous looking woman next to them, dressed in a favorable looking palatial ball gown, all tan glowing legs and tan glowing face and blowing blonde hair. "She's a French model."

Kaori and Natsuki blinked up at the graceful, swanlike woman in awe.

"She doesn't speak much Japanese." Sonoko giggled. "But she's quite the KID fan, right?"

"I like KID very much." Giselle affirmed "I have come all this way to see his… how do you say… performance? Yes. I have come a long way to see this show."

"It's a heist." Kaori pointed out, unfavorable. "It's technically a criminal act, you know…"

"Nonsense!" Sonoko laughed cheerfully. "He usually returns them, anyway. And they're _so _entertaining. Japan just loves him! They'd never put him in jail, or anything crazy like that…"

"That crazy is the law…" Kaori muttered, though she felt the same.

KID cases were so _exciting. _She couldn't believe half the stuff he pulled—so much more sophisticated then any of the pranks she tried. Even the one she had pulled yesterday morning with the giant cat balloon didn't hold a candle to the acts that KID had up his sleeves.

"I'll be just like him someday." She promised Natsuki, who gave her a hesitant look. Kaito thought that she was just like Shinichi—he was wrong. Though she was surely curious by nature, the law held no appeal to her. KID's magic, however…

The four of them settled into some comfortable chairs with a good outlook of all the action below, which admittedly wasn't much yet. The streets were a distant cacophony of voices that she could barely hear over Giselle and Sonoko's tinkling laughter. Natsuki, beside her, was dozing off.

Finally, it started, and the lights went out with an ominous thud and everyone started screaming in fearful anticipation.

"Natsuki!" She hissed. "Natsuki wake up! It's starting!"

KID looked the same as always, wearing his white cape and white suit and giving the crowd a merry little wave as he descended from the sky. She spotted Nakamori-keibu and his goons attempting to snatch KID out of the air, but they were buffeted by what looked to be a glass cage surrounding him.

Sonoko was screaming so loud Kaori could hardly hear anything, pressing herself up against the railing and peering down to watch KID continue his descent into the throngs of people, and the jewel guarded in the center by a pack of policemen.

It happened so suddenly, she almost didn't notice.

One of the officers managed to break a wall of glass, struggling inside KID's glass prism and making a grab for the thief, who nimbly dodged. There was a moment as the entire crowd went silent, before the whole place erupted into smoke and anarchy.

Natuski blinked. "What—what's going on?"

"Dunno…" Kaori answered slowly, pulling her long hair out of her face to see better.

Giselle made a noise of dismay. "The thief was caught?"

"Of course not." Sonoko assured her, though she hardly looked sure herself. "KID can never be caught! Don't worry!"

Kaori glanced back down, not so sure herself. She'd never seen KID get caught, true… but she'd also never seen the police manage to get past his defenses… She could see little else aside from a plume of smoke rising into the night sky, thousands of voices crying out in shock.

It was then that she yelped in shock, sprawling backwards as a man was levied up the side of their building by a pulley system she hadn't even realized had been triggered to the pillar. It squeaked to a halt, Sonoko was hyperventilating behind her and Giselle had begun to speak rapidly in French—Natsuki seemed to have fainted. Kaito KID placed a foot on the railing, one hand grasping the wire pulling him up and the other clutching the stolen necklace, purple diamond glimmering as it dangled.

"K—KID!" Sonoko shrieked, looking like she may have just died of happiness.

The thief didn't spare her a glance, shoving the necklace in front of him. Kaori scampered to her feet, only to be near flung backwards as Giselle and Sonoko pushed their way to the forefront of the thief's attention.

"Kaito KID," Giselle demurred, her candle bright hair tossed in the wind like a painting of blonde. "I have been waiting to meet you."

The thief looked taken aback. "It's my pleasure." He said, bringing her limp hand to his lips.

The model giggled, and Sonoko, not content to simply let her bask in the attention, shoved before her. "KID!" She shouted, looking delighted. "But what about the heist?"

The thief looked down, face obscured by his monocle and hat. "They look a little held up for the moment." He turned back to them. "Which one of you lovely ladies woud like to take this off my hands?"

Natsuki was clutching her arm so hard Kaori thought she might break it, Sonoko loudly shouting for herself and Giselle only gave him a coy smile. "But _mon cheri," _She purred. "Won't you keep it for yourself?"

"It's too beautiful for me." KID chuckled. Kaori thought he probably just wanted to get rid of it, and make his escape and have the police none the wiser.

Giselle didn't seem to think this at all, her lovely laughter ringing in the air. Kaori pouted. Of course, KID would hold up his heist for Sonoko's beautiful French model friend. Shouldn't he be more worried about getting caught?

It looked like he wouldn't be held up for long, though, as the spotlight shined onto him, and helicopters rose to the air behind him. The thief turned to stare into the blaring light, seeming to realize they had caught on to him, and turned back to them.

To Kaori's surprise, he leaned over to her.

"Why don't you take it, little princess?" He smiled, tossing it to her.

Kaori caught it deftly, looking up in shock as he dove backwards back into the crowd. Beneath them, voices rose at his jump, and then hollered in dismay. So he must have used his paraglider, she thought idly, holding the jewel to her eyes to study it. She caught Giselle's pinched, contrary face, and Sonoko's dismayed one. Natsuki had loosened her grip.

"It's really pretty." Natsuki breathed, face close to hers. "Are you going to wear it?"

"Should I?" Kaori asked, a little breathlessly. It glittered orchid colored in her hand, the pendant spinning on its silver, lacy looking chain.

She caught sight of the watch on her hand, and near dropped the necklace. "What?-! Is it really that late?"

She pocketed the necklace before Sonoko or Giselle could ask for it instead, and tugged at Natsuki's hand. "We've got to get back! My dad's going to be home in an hour and he'll flip if he finds me out!"

The brunette turned back to Sonoko and Giselle, both looking darling and a thousand times more beautiful then her in their couture gowns, and sweeping beautiful hair. Why hadn't KID given it to them? "Thank you for inviting us!" She called over her shoulder, before taking off,

-x-

Kaori snuck in from her bedroom window just as dawn crept up the horizon. Kaito didn't seem to have stirred at all, not even when she banged her head on the wall. He must have been really fast asleep. She ended up sitting at her desk, twirling the jewel on the necklace round and round.

She must have dozed off at some point, because a jarring noise from below jolted her right up and out of her chair, and she sprawled onto the floor in a daze. Who was home? Kaito was at work… and she hadn't asked Natsuki to come over—

Kaori grabbed the necklace and practically jumped all the stairs.

"Dad!" She leapt up. "You're home!"

"I've been home." The famous detective mumbled with a smile, bagel between his mouth, holding up the empty cream cheese like it was some sort of telling evidence. Typical. "And how many times have I told you to throw away stuff when it's done?"

She scuffed the floor sheepishly. "I just always forget." The girl mumbled sincerely, before holding up the necklace, which glittered amethyst in the lighting of the kitchen. "Look at this!"

"It's pretty." Shinichi commented, before his eyes narrowed. "Am I going to have to skin someone?"

"I didn't get it from a boyfriend." She rolled her eyes. Shinichi worried too much. She was only fourteen, after all. Boys weren't into fourteen year old girls. "And you wouldn't be able to _catch _him to skin him, anyway."

"Some sort of criminal, then." The detective nodded, migrating towards the toaster. And then, more to himself; "Should have known you'd suffer my same ailment…"

"What ailment?" Kuroba Kaito asked, mock-accusing, as he came in through the front door. Had she looked at him closely, she would have wondered why he wasn't wearing a suit, and his clothes were rumpled and dirty. Hell, she would have wondered why he was using the front door when he should have been sleeping up stairs, but she still wasn't quite over the heist yet.

"Kaito!" Kaori pounced on him. "Look at this!" She held it up, right before his eyes.

Shinichi gave the thief a flat look. For his part, the man had schooled his features into pleasant surprise.

"It's very pretty!" Kaito blinked. Before smirking. "Got an admirer, then?"

Kaori waved him off. "No! I got it at the KID heist." And then, with excitement, "He _gave_ it to me!"

"Why would he do that?" Shinichi asked wryly, eyes narrowing at Kaito as he leaned on the counter and bit into his bagel. The thief gave him a suggestive smile.

"Dunno." Kaori admitted, tugging Kaito to the table and sitting beside him. "But can you believe it? Natsuki was so jealous—oh hell, _Suzuki-san _looked like she was about to tear it right off my neck! I couldn't _believe _he chose me! I thought for sure he'd give it that model lady next to us… she was really pretty, you know… and then he called me a…"

She trailed off, eyes finally leaving the glimmer of her new jewelry.

Her eyes, a familiarly immortal blue, hesitantly met Kaito's. "A little princess…"

There was a stunning silence, as Kaori's eyes moved from Kaito—who was wearing an impassive look that could have meant anything—to Shinichi, who was tellingly looking at the ceiling.

"…Is there something you guys aren't telling me?" She asked, hesitantly.

No answer.

"Is there something you _want _to tell me?"

"This would never have been an issue," Began Kaito, completely not addressing her at all. "If you could've at least been a _little _bit dumber. She wouldn't be nearly this smart if you were just a little bit stupid."

"This is my fault?" Shinichi mused incredulously, looking at his bagel with fascination. "You're so… so _obvious. _Anyone with half a brain could figure out your stunts, let alone _your identity._"

"Just not the police, right?" Kaito snorted. "She's just too smart, is all. And anyway, who else was I gonna leave it with? _Sonoko_? I'd rather shoot myself in the foot then have to explain myself to her—

"So I was right, then?" Kaori stood then, voice shrill. "_You're _KID?"

Neither of them answered her. Again.

"You shouldn't have been that close to getting caught!" Shinichi retorted. "Getting out daughter involved in something so stupid—

"It's not stupid! It's practically an art!" Kaito stuck his tongue out.

"Can someone explain this to me?-!" She pointed an accusing finger at Kaito, who blinked innocently. "You're really KID?" She turned to Shinichi. "And you knew all along?"

Shinichi gave Kaito a stern glance.

"Were you planning on telling me at all?-!"

"Eventually!" Kaito raised his hands in defense. "It's just, you know, not something we were gonna sit you down for when you were ten or something. It's a bit of a shock, you know."

"I'll say." Kaori blinked dazedly. "So all this time… you were KID?" How many heists had she snuck out for? A dozen, two dozen? To think that all along, she had assumed that Kaito was just sleeping upstairs in his room, when really he was out stealing precious jewels.

"Not _all _the time." Kaito amended. "My father was the first KID—

"So it's like an inheritance!-?" The girl gasped in delight. "Do I get to steal jewels too?"

"No." Kaito and Shinichi both answered in unison.

"So all this time I've been sneaking out to watch KID heists—

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "I thought I told you to stop going to those—

"And really, I was just watching you all along?" She continued on, ignoring her father's words as she turned to him. "And you! What have you been doing all those times at those heists? I thought you were supposed to catch him!"

"Well…" Shinichi trailed off pointedly, supposing that _that _part of the conversation could wait until she was quite a ways older.

She looked at both of them once more, wondering if she was dreaming. Though it was hard to wrap her head around, it made quite a bit of sense. In fact, it was almost blatantly obvious. No wonder Kaito was always sleeping through the day.

"Is anyone going to explain to me how this all started?" She asked, dazedly.

Shinichi and Kaito's eyes met.

"Well, you see…" Kaito began awkwardly, deciding to give her the _heavily _edited PG version. "It all started when I met this boy on the rooftop…"

* * *

_Credits: Under the milky way (Sia/The Church, in this case, Sia), You be the anchor that keeps my feet in the ground (Mayday Parade), _


End file.
